But there, the silver answer rang...

If you can't be with the ones you love....A holiday micro story from the archive

Stefzn on Unsplash.com ( edited )

It’s funny how life turns out, isn’t it?

Working in the nursing home today, she fed, bathed and dressed nine elderly people. She sang with them and listened to their old stories. She made them laugh. Brought them tea.

She’s with them every day, and to these bewildered old ones who’ve been abandoned or who’ve outlived their tribe, she’s Annie, she’s their Annie, the only family they have left, and they love her.

Late tonight, on the bus home, she smiles and sighs. She spent all her Christmas holidays bringing a little cheer to the old ones.

But for Annie it’s no sacrifice. They’re the only family she has, too.

Rodion Kutsaiev on Unsplash.com

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My story’s title comes from Elizabeth Barrett Browning — Sonnets of the Portuguese 1. A poem for all seasons, it reminds us that love can suddenly come when least expected.

I thought once how Theocritus had sung

Of the sweet years, the dear and wished for years,

Who each one in a gracious hand appears

To bear a gift for mortals, old or young:

And, as I mused it in his antique tongue,

I saw, in gradual vision through my tears,

The sweet, sad years, the melancholy years,

Those of my own life, who by turns had flung

A shadow across me. Straightway I was 'ware,

So weeping, how a mystic Shape did move­

Behind me, and drew me backward by the hair,

And a voice said in mastery, while I strove, ...

Guess now who holds thee?'—Death,' I said. But there,

The silver answer rang ... Not Death, but Love.'

I wish you all a warm, peaceful holiday season. And remember … if you can’t be with the ones you love … love the ones you’re with.

Stephen Stills, 1970. Click arrow THREE times .

Sharron Bassano

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