Remembering Softly

Honest poetry coming out of everyday life, joys and struggles, keen observations of nature, family, friends, and faith.A beautifully-presented collection composed at various times throughout the author's life. Many of these poems have been published in national periodicals and are collected here in book form for the first time. Together, they offer a spiritual and emotional memoir of a life of searching faith, faltering bu constantly clinging to hope, while learning to love. Both metered rhyme and free verse are employed. Original color illustrations are interspersed among the 73 poems.From the INTRODUCTION (copyright 2016):Poets compose poems and readers enjoy them because nothing quite distills the feelings of a moment as does a piece of verse with its resonance, sound, and form. A poem comes from someplace in the heart. And when read, it can reveal something about the heart. Like music, it may employ major or minor tones. I hope the poems in this volume, selected expressions from each stage of my life, will touch a chord for you, my reader - perhaps in a major key of delight or consolation; perhaps with minor overtones of grief or longing. May you find something here to illumine your path and lighten your soul at whatever place of life you find yourself.

From my wanderings in and wondering about nature; from opening more and more to the Divine; from faith, family, and friends; out of noisy living and quiet places; out of whelming emotions, questionings and questing ... come poems to help cope, to make sense of it all, to ennoble earthly life. In crisis has come hope; in fear has come faith; in fragility has come strength; in joy has come affirmation; in loss has come bounteous grace. I want to remember it all, but softly.Contents:I.Poems from Adult Years (in reverse chronology)In the Cleft of a Cold White RockWeights of GloryEarth and HeavenSnow On Good FridayGod's AnvilA ChoiceGloryGladwinA Man With a SwordConsolationIn My Heart an AltarLonging For HomeFriendsSitting In the Grass On an Autumn DayDeborahAfter the ReunionGod's Inexplicable WorkLiving WoundsAutumn Walk Along the Poudre RiverRhymes For GrandchildrenWaves On the CladachAfter Saying Good-byeIf I Hadn t LookedOn a Walk In FerndaleA Walk At DuskAffirmationEvening LightThree 'First' PoemsGod Plus One Is a Winning MajorityA River Is FlowingCleansing, Healing and DeliveranceFootprints In the SnowHe Calms the StormWindow WasherAntidoteGod's HusbandmanBeautyA FriendWings of FaithWhy Me?Blue AstersLeafy LamentShe PraysIt's FallShadowsReleaseAutumnRenewalSleep BabyII. Poems from Childhood and Teen-age Years (written under the pen name Katie Estell)MeditationDaydreamsA BookMy ThoughtsDreamsSpringI Have a FriendFor UsTo LarryHe Loves MeLimerickI Like To Eat!DelightSolution For a Soul In TormentJoyIt's a Beautiful Day