Grandma's Poetry
This is the picture my grandmother left to me. Pictured is my grandmother, Faye Pearl Wagoner Cooley with her husband, Guy Manford Cooley. Grandpa Guy is holding my aunt, their firstborn, Miriam Elizabeth Cooley.
This poem was found in my grandmother’s Bible after she passed away. She wrote poetry most of her adult life. She and my grandfather, Guy Manford Cooley wrote poetry together. Several of their poems were sold for approximately $5 apiece to a company in Kansas City and were set to music. Aunt Miriam Cooley Funke had in her possession the framed sheet music. Grandpa Guy passed away in 1931 and grandma never remarried. I asked her one time if she had a picture of grandpa since I had never known him. She told me she had many of them in her trunk and when she died she would see that I got one, but she couldn't bear to look at them so I’d just have to wait. She kept her word. I’d like to think that when she left this earth she found my grandfather waiting for her and they are together in a place like the one she described in her poem.
Untitled Poem
I've not
another thing to do,
This whole big, live long day,
But lie here in my old white cot
And while the time away.
And so if you will listen,
Or care to hear at all
I'll tell you 'bout a picture
That is hanging on my wall.
Now, it's not a great big picture
Yet it seems to me quite rare
For joy and beauty, love and all
Seem to be hidden there.
The sky is of a golden hue
With just a touch of blue.
The sun shines thru the tree tops tall
And sparkles on a brook,
That winds around, and in and out
Thru meadow's rich and green.
And do you know, I think if I
Could only have my way,
And was allowed to have a day-
Bout where I'd like to stay,
I'd build a nook,
Beside this brook
Where I could sit and dream
About the brighter side of life
Which doesn't seem quite real,
But maybe if I had with me,
For every day and hour
Such wondrous things, that God has made
And could enjoy them all
The darkest clouds would pass away.
A rainbow bright appear,
And life would be a stream of joy
With not a trace of tears
And so perhaps, if I will try
To do and say each day
Such things as God would have me do
As I go my way,
I'll find a little golden key,
And I will unlock the door
To such a little spot as this
And I will call it "Home".
This whole big, live long day,
But lie here in my old white cot
And while the time away.
And so if you will listen,
Or care to hear at all
I'll tell you 'bout a picture
That is hanging on my wall.
Now, it's not a great big picture
Yet it seems to me quite rare
For joy and beauty, love and all
Seem to be hidden there.
The sky is of a golden hue
With just a touch of blue.
The sun shines thru the tree tops tall
And sparkles on a brook,
That winds around, and in and out
Thru meadow's rich and green.
And do you know, I think if I
Could only have my way,
And was allowed to have a day-
Bout where I'd like to stay,
I'd build a nook,
Beside this brook
Where I could sit and dream
About the brighter side of life
Which doesn't seem quite real,
But maybe if I had with me,
For every day and hour
Such wondrous things, that God has made
And could enjoy them all
The darkest clouds would pass away.
A rainbow bright appear,
And life would be a stream of joy
With not a trace of tears
And so perhaps, if I will try
To do and say each day
Such things as God would have me do
As I go my way,
I'll find a little golden key,
And I will unlock the door
To such a little spot as this
And I will call it "Home".
Written in her own hand by Faye Pearl Wagoner Cooley
