Sunday, May 11, 2014

What Women Know

Our circle of women grows
with the passage of time.
Each union,
each birth,
each loss,
and each death
brings us closer together,
and strengthens our bond.
We are women;
we know these things.
To be loved, and to belong;
is there anything greater?
We lift one another
with voices and hands,
joining forces with heaven
to strengthen the weak,
to steady the faint, and
to celebrate the strong.
My circle began with the woman
who gave me life, and her mother
who gave her life, and her sister
who grew to love me, too.
The mother of my father, 
and his sister, and her daughter;
all women of my tribe,
who made me welcome here.
As sisters joined hands with mine,
the family grew to include us all.
The girls of long ago
helped me see the world 
through their eyes,
and even after the 
passage of time, still remain
constant in my life.
I have been mothered by
another, who gave me the gift
of her love, and gave to me
a sister-friend when

she became a mother herself.











My own daughter, and the
wife who joined my son bring joy 
and laughter wherever they go.
As brothers took wives
who bore them their daughters,
our sisterhood grew,
each girl a perfect gift
to those who love her most.
The women in my circle are strong and vibrant.
They stand tall in the face of adversity, 
and show me the way when I feel lost.
In my trials, I have learned that
they will not leave me; they will sustain me.
Caring, loving, embracing;
their actions, louder than words,
remind me of my worth.
A woman is strength.
A woman is courage.
A woman is love.
Women united 
know no limits
to the good they can do.
These things we know
because we are women.
From the heart of my circle,
I feel gratitude for the grace
offered me when I 
somehow felt
that I was less.
Women whose faces 
I know only from photographs
lift me from afar.
Their understanding of who I am,
and what I need, touches me
in ways I cannot explain.
We are united by our common experience
of traveling this world as women and friends.
There are things we know because we are women.
Women know of loss.
Women know of love.
Women know of fear.
Women know of courage.
As women, we remember
these things when
those around us begin to forget.
We are strong.
We are amazing.
We are loved.
We belong.

We are women; 
we must remember these things
so when others begin to forget,
we can remind them of what women know.



For the beautiful women in my life,
thank you, all of you.
The pictures here represent a larger
body of women I wish to honor today.
If you are reading this,
you have touched my life,
and for that, I am grateful.

Never forget your worth to the world.
You are priceless to your family and friends.
You have value beyond comprehension.
I love you.










28 comments:

  1. Beautiful, just beautiful! Happy Mother's Day, you beautiful woman with a heart filled with love and gratitude!

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  2. Wonderful Denise. So much love, so many wonderful women.

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    1. Thank you Tonia. I still cannot believe we have never met. Surely we have, and I just don't remember...

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  3. Beautiful! Happy Mother's Day, my friend.

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    1. Happy Mother's Day, Deb. Don't mind my random stalking of your FB account. I started laughing at some of the posts between you and your daughter. Love our crazy families!

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  4. That was heartfelt and so very true ... we as women hold stronger bonds than we are even aware of.

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  5. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! Such a beautiful tribute!

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  6. What a lovely tribute to the women in your life, and to women everywhere! And I enjoyed looking at the pictures too!

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    1. Dawn, thank you. I hope that you are well and happy.

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  7. Beautifully spoken and shared, my friend. What a wonderful tribute to your tribe!

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    1. Thank you for being part of my tribe. Like I said, you are a candle in the darkness.

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  8. Absolutely love it, Denise. Thank you.

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    1. Thank you, Valerie. I hope you are feeking better.

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  9. Beautiful post. Having supportive women in my life is a huge deal, and not something I take for granted. You inspire me to put together my own scrapbook of strong and caring women.

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  10. You are blessed by all these women in your world. As Carolyn says, what a lovely scrapbook!

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    1. Thank you for being one of the supportive women in my tribe, Crystal.

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  11. Lovely post. I enjoyed all the images and the poetry and your connections. This was a guidepost to read at a time when there are so many heavy things out there. Loved the mix of old and new pictures too.

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    1. Tonia, you andRos helped me heal during one of the hardest trials of my life. Thank you for that.

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  12. Very special post, Denise. Thanks for sharing here.

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  13. Women united know no limits... I love that!

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  14. "Women united
    know no limits
    to the good they can do.
    These things we know
    because we are women."

    I love this, because it is so true. How blessed we are to have such women in our lives!

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