Water Running Downhill! Words of Empowerment for Women in Midlife
Water Running Downhill! Words of Empowerment for Women in Midlife
Author: Joan Ellen Gage
http://waterrunningdownhill.com
Reviewed by: Anne Holmes
Joan Ellen Gage is a self-taught poet and photographer and this short book of her poetry is enhanced by her charming and creative photography.
A dental hygienist by training, she says she was inspired to write this book, her first, by her patients, who have shared their stories with her over the years.
“Water Running Downhill” urges us to dance to our music now, before all the water ends up at the bottom of the hill and it is too late to celebrate life.
The book is filled with messages of hope and inspiration, and Joan is a natural cheerleader. Perhaps her thoughts are best explained here, in the poem “Women Who Serve.”
Women Who Serve
Daily they bring me
The stories of their
Lives and loves
These tales speak
To me on a very
Personal level, as
These stories may
Evolve to include mine
These women tell me
Of lives spent
Taking care of everyone
Beginning with raising children
Encompassing perhaps twenty years
And of their being a helpmate
To their spouses, and doing
The never-ending household chores
But, these years of childrearing
Were closely followed with
The caretaking of these women’s
Failing parents; a role reversal where
The parents seemed
To become the children
This was a difficult duty
But it was a duty done out of love
Lastly, the women spoke of
The deterioration of their spouses
Many of these women
Had no funds for outside help
And often were frail themselves
But they bravely served
At their spouses sides
And offered up their
Often-thankless support
Waging a war until the end
There are no purple hearts
For care-giving, and no memorials
This is the reality of women’s lives
This may become your existence and mine
Please, learn by this lesson
This is our time; fly and be free!
