As angels hovered They said goodbyes Through the mist Of Jordans chill Shadow of cross As time gave way They felt the urge to pray They clung To her breast Stained with tears Jordans waters Filled her lungs Stealing the breath That once sustained Leaving behind A weary shell Sweet presence lingered But for a moment As the glory Embraced her soul There was no doubt What ever the cost Eternal life her prize KJS
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Hope
The young sapling
quivers under the weight
of the young robins song
luring me to the backyard
of my daily life
that has become routine
For smell of April’s moist
earth reaches my nostrils
and travels welcomely
to my tired lungs
filling them with hope
thus promise of life
Renewed in faith
as my rubber boots
smile with each step
leaving behind embossed
footprints of assurance
for others to follow
Blue skies reflect
this path I’ve chosen
an exclamation mark
that claims its reward
confirmation of expectation
heavens embrace my prayers
KJS
The Visitor
Being an advocate for our seniors , always creating awareness for the importance of visiting the seniors, now that privilege has been removed…Amidst the world chaos struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic, the awareness is still a valid cause. This poem speaks of what it means to an elderly soul who spends day after day in a long term care home and then is blessed with a visitor. Now with strong measures in place with no visitors allowed to help fight against Covid-19 in the homes. Please say a prayer for these dear loved ones. I wonder if the saying applies, “you don’t appreciate what you have until it’s gone” 
Morning dew
cool tired feet
caressing each step
I feel relief,
drowsy daisies
start to stretch
welcoming warmth
from evenings slumber
Relief though faint
strength is gained
amidst the
dawning glory,
unfolding promise
clings with certain
embracing grace
with daylight hues
Meadows green
of afternoon
the comfort of
someones touch,
the lonely ends
as smiles begin
welcoming love
amid the words
Once again
the cool returns
yellowing rays
turn into gold,
I bid farewell
a day well spent
contentment folds in
peaceful rest
KJS
I want to add a very important note, a huge thank you and prayers to all our health care workers putting their lives on the line everyday to care for our dear seniors. God bless them and keep them safe ❤
Denial
No hidden code to cypher
as ink on cotton stained
a neon sign it blinds the truth
is it easy to walk away?
Be direct this is no riddle
without an answer in a rhyme
gaze upon the mirrored reflection
no crystal ball through time
Seniors now for once were youth
do we feel exempt?
denial devised to sacrifice truth
I hear the echoes of the steps
KJS
Amidst youth or mid life strides, it is very easy to push the truth back out of the way replacing it with myths that growing old is so far down the road; the truth is, it is on our back porch, and we will be stepping down placing our feet on the same path of life’s fragility.
Let’s join our voices in fighting for change, in creating that very important communication concerning end of life care, and the dignity, respect, privacy and compassion that are not only deserved but is crucial for the quality of life in seniors twilight years when they are taking their final steps on this earth.
For every like comment and share you are helping with this awareness. Thank you ❤
#seniors #elderly #life #pathway #sacrifice #truth #change #communication #exempt #denial #needed #care #dignity #respect #privacy #earned #deserved #awareness #poetry
Failing Footholds
Raising awareness through poetry for our dear seniors & elderly. Advocates are a necessity of life for these dear souls 
With every like share and comment you are helping create awareness. Thank you.
Failing Footholds
Hushed summer breezes fill the air
as silent lullabies calm the heart
cradled in promise we wait for the grace
to whom shall we go if we cannot walk
Absence of light the eyes are wearied
suspended in darkness lost voice of the soul
answers are hidden to questions not spoken
to whom shall we speak if we cannot talk
Beyond explanations intent of meaning
further than strength we lose our way
falling prey to no new beginnings
stumbling through life our only survival
KJS
Changing Colours
Now some may take offence to this writing but please take into consideration I am creating awareness, in honour and respect of our dear dad who left this world on February 29 at 11:35 AM. Surrounded by his daughters in a room where it reeked in lack of privacy, dignity, respect, and compassionate communication, these are things I will continue to fight for, for change for our seniors, our dear elderly who have earned the honour and respect to have a specific end of life care room. This poem reflects the truth in his death, his last few days and hours and the grief of his daughters. Thank you ❤
Pillows of grief cushion the fall
through veil of tears attempted goodbyes
interrupted by fear and impolite noise
death is lurking the soul in waiting
Bedside manners filled with prayer
holding the hand that soon will be gone
air is thick with cluttered interruptions
enters and exits rob us of moments
Angels hover our hearts are breaking
straining to hear breath of wings
clamorous shuffles we try to focus
songs are sung to mask such commotion
United despaired we cling to hope
that soon death will not be displayed
pleading for grace and a quite arbor
respect for a soul fighting for life
Solitude required why must we beg
like scavengers we crave for dignity
respect for our loved one on display
communication scattered lost in shuffled
Broken now the colours change
rapid breath before the calling
we strain to hear the heart of father
the hands once warm now feel the chill
He rushes now to meet our mother
embraced in heaven we say goodbyes
amidst our sorrow his pain is over
the show is over the curtain falls
KJS
#awareness #communication #elderly #seniors #dying #dignity #respect #honour #privacy #compassion #consideration #mp #Ontario #government #local #longtermcare #endoflifecare #love #like @share #comment #prayforchange
The Embrace
Sustain my heart
with a long good bye
watching you leave
till your shadow dissolves
into tears of longing
oh… not to be left behind!
Weary eyes that
give way to rest
slipping into dreams
of yesterdays
oh… familiar caresses!
from one who went before
Oh…what is this!
new life of watching
waiting and wondering
a world where
days are echoed
with such continual emptiness
Pleadings with prayer
oh…God help me!
release my body
from this prison
filled with little dignity
and racked with pain and sorrow
Respect of a life
the sword is raised
shrouded by heaviness
of grieving and death
oh…arms are lifted!
as breath turns into embrace
KJS
Photo compliments of Joyce Peters ❤
The Visit
Through glass they view
the skies of blue
that turn to shades
of gloomy hues
Down long halls
encased grey walls
which hold the rails
that brace their falls
Beyond the doorway
shadows of ghosts
that linger awhile
to encourage and boast
Have they escaped
this prison of age
their souls still restless
bound by this cage
Release their bondage
shatter the spell
this visit of kin
the final farewell
KJS
As an advocate for seniors our dear elderly, I encourage and admonish, your dear loved ones need an advocate, they need to have frequent family visits; for one day it will be you sitting wondering waiting, peering through panes of glass, looking through doorways, will they come today?
Dying In Dignity
Dying with Dignity
(Dignity in Death in Long Term Care Homes)
Dedicated to the recent passing of my dear daddy and to my dear mother may they rest in peace.
In memory of all the dear elderly to whom have completed this journey and to those who are on this journey.
The halls that stretch from end to end echo the weary steps of the elderly
imprints of their tired lives embrace the cold hard floors.
Each shuffling step engraved within the tiles reflect their life stories, chapters of their journeys, paragraphs of remember whens, life events that got lost in the traffic of daily life in the halls.
For so many dear seniors their last few paragraphs of their life, silent stories are etched in long term care homes, where their hurt, pain, suffering, searching for their lost memories, struggles of missing sentences to their lives. Who will listen, who will write and publish their stories, so they can be read, heard and cherished?
Spending such a great amount of time in these homes with the seniors, especially with my parents, I watch in sadness as some go day after day, month after month with no visitors, no family, their lives have become a daily routine of their own lost thoughts and unspoken words, eyes that are dry with so many tears. No matter what or how these daily routines are mapped out these dear souls are wending their way, the destination “end of life”.
At end of life there is a story that demands respect, dignity, compassion, and privacy in goodbyes, grief, and in lasting impressions of a loved ones passing; In able to write this merited account there needs to be a place, a space to create atmosphere that enables ALL the attributes of respect and dignity of ones souls crossing over from their weary life to the other realm.
My father spent his remaining days at a Long Term Care home in Grey county, his days were filled with his daughter(s) visits, writing poems and drawing cartoons. There were dedicated friends from his church family who visited him on a weekly basis, all these things contributed to his happiness and quality of life. There were amazing nurses and staff at his home that he learned to rely on and aided in his well being. As dads health started failing and went from failing to rapid decline after he fell out of his bed, it was time to sign the papers for palliative care and end of life care. I could go into great detail but as it is, I want to maintain some privacy…my dad was dying, the family wanted him moved to “the suite”, a private room (where my late mother rest her soul spent her remaining hours of her life in palliative end of life care) …where an elderly soul could die in peace, privacy, and dignity, surrounded by his daughters to say final good byes, to spend precious private family time, for dad to have respect in his concluding hours. Sadly we learned that the so called suite was used not just to accommodate palliative care but for other reasons and other care as we were not told this up front. If we had know ALL the details and the communication had been there we would have made other plans! It shocked me that in a long term care home of 100 residents there was not one specific room solely for the purpose of offering respect, dignity, and privacy for an elderly soul whom was on palliative end of life care. I will mention there were a couple offers that were given approximately 3 hours before my dad took his final breath, offers that were given after desperate emails and phone calls and text messages, offers that added to our pain and grief because these offers could not have happened due to the frail condition of my dear dad and that his end of life was close at hand, as I was by his side it was extremely evident the angels were hovering.
To say the least out of respect for my dad I want and plead for change! I do not desire any other soul to have to die with his or her death on display, I do not want the family to feel the shocking appalling sinking feeling that their last hours with their dying family member will be scarred with memories of fighting for this deserved respect.
Please lets take this serious, in honour of our seniors, the elderly! Lets fight for change they deserve that at least! in my closing I would like to admonish all families to allow their family member(s) to have an advocate, I cannot begin to imagine what all would have been swept under the carpet if I had not been my dad’s advocate and went to bat for him! We would not be here today if it were not for our seniors, lets give them the safe quality of life they deserve. God bless them all.
Hold my hand and feel my life
the path though worn is there
Threads of memory still exist
tattered frayed and threadbare
Feel my heart ’tis broken and torn
do you have compassion?
Mend my soul with threads of gold
spun from interaction
Stay awhile to get a sense
why oft times I feel so lost
Now and then you’d never know
the heaviness of my cross
Bring a ray of sunshine with you
melt away the icy fears
Bestow me with the warmth of friendship
exchanging smiles instead of tears
KJS©
In Honour
Their tears fall
on our cheeks through rain
as the families weep
for the loss
of their loved ones
poppies line the heart of hearts
as there sacrifice
marches through time
footprints of our soldiers
etched in our souls
as history floats by
through winds of the eleventh hour…
Through song prayers and silence
We shall forever remember respect and honour
KJS
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