Ever since November 1997 I have been writing poems.  I was a Macmillan Nurse Specialist visiting both in the community and hospital in South East London.  I had often penned the odd poetical note, but nothing serious.   My role was a difficult one and it was extremely stressful, but I received many blessings from my work and I did feel fulfilled.  

In that November my daughter's mother-in-law was dying, and one night after visiting I felt so moved that I suddenly had the compulsion to write a poem in tribute to her.   A gracious lady who, though so very ill, had thanked me for visiting her!     I sat down in front of the new computer my husband had bought me and stared at the screen.  But not for long!  The fingers flew and the words tumbled over the page.   When I had finished I was so surprised.  Had I really written that?    I felt in awe of it all.

From that time the poems took over.  I started to write the newsletter for my Church and it seemed logical that I also write poems for that publication.   I decided to turn the Gospel of the Sunday into rhyme with a few lines of comments added at the end.   From that my poems developed into my view of life and its problems today, and how if we lived up to the Christian message of Jesus, He would see us through all aspects of our lives.    I had always said a little prayer before a difficult conversation in my work and about how I should respond to certain situations.   This had helped me through and so the poems evolved.   Life always has its pulls and I too need to listen to the message in my poems. 

Cecilia