Yerington Stories: National Poetry Month: Yerington & Nevada Poetry

Yerington Stories: National Poetry Month:  Yerington & Nevada Poetry

At Easter time I am always reminded of a lesson my mother taught me years ago. (Note please help me identify these Candy Strippers with my mother, thanks)

Mrs. Barnett’s Lesson

My ears had heard some tales that day,

I did not like they-no way!

“She is sort of mean,” they said.  “A stiff old cuss,

She is very cold and brusk”

Yes, they agreed Mrs. Barnett should be feared

How could she work and and children rear

If you worked for her, she’d fire you with a grin

Depending on what mood she was in.

I could not believe my ears, my eyes filled with tears

Why was my mother to subject of their jeers?

I wondered why she was attacked by the gossip mob,

I ran home as fast as I could and as I began to sob.

Why are you crying, my mother asked.

I didn’t want say, but my mouth let out a blast.

“They are saying mean things about you

And I know they are not true.”

She did not defend herself or explain

She gently held me to relieve the pain

Then she said, “People can talk until they turn blue

But you must forgive them, for they know not what they do.

(It was many years later that I discovered that this was a quote from the Bible.  It was a saying that Christ made while hanging on the cross.  That day my mother gracefully demonstrated Christ’s principle to me)