victim of one unloving author
and then another and yet more
she struggled to write her own story
a helpless child weeping to see
the opening chapters scribbled so carelessly
by those who, unwilling to love her
designed a slim volume of respectability
she felt a need to dance
but dancing wasn’t decent
for an unwanted lady of her station
she wanted to sing her way
into unstammering freedom of speech
but a callous killjoy held the reins
and kept her dreams far out of reach
until she turned sixteen
and walked away
too late to dance like Margot Fonteyn
she practiced her steps, her pirouettes
through the day, late into the night
until her legs ached, her feet bled
yet on she danced, right onto the stage
winning the right to live her life
doing the thing she loved the best
my brave mother, slim and lithe
began too old to win the race
but she proved herself
passed the test that she had set
through seasons she danced in Swan Lake
and though unrestrainable time
took her ballet shoes away
she remained graceful
until the day she died
The Daily Post #Graceful
©Jane Paterson Basil
Making it write 
Very nice.
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Thank you – The word Graceful amkes me think of my mother.
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Inspiring Jane.
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Thank you Michelle. I only recently realised the extent of my mother’s ability. If only she had been allowed to learn to dance as a child…
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Life’s ballet does not always unfold they way we would have it do – how well we know that ourselves !
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No, but it pains me to think how much my mum was held back by not being allowed to dance – or have her voice trained. She had a stammer, and singing could have helped her. Instead she was treated as if she was mentally deficient.
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Our parents lived in judgemental and difficult times. My mother had the most beautiful singing voice. Her dearest wish was to sing professionally – didn’t happen.
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Mum’s grandmother (her guardian) thought that the stage was not respectable – and that’s where singers performed – along with ballet dancers.
Was that the issue with your mother?
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Poverty and poor health. Mum was not even able to complete primary school
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That harsh truth hit me between the eyes. I forget so easily that life can be that way. So many people who never have the chance to reach their full potential, while others throw it away. So sad.
Yet she was a success; you blossomed from her. She passed opportunities to you, and you fulfilled them..
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AND she sang all her life, every opportunity she got – in church, church choirs, church functions, in duets, at home, in her sleep, in the car, at home morning and evening devotions….
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Singing is food for the soul 🙂
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It certainly was for Mum 🙂
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For me, too – I sing, and I sometimes dance when I’m alone.
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Wonderful !
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🙂 🙂 🙂
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Beautiful and awesome, Jane. A wonderful eulogy to your mom.
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I write a pooem about her ecery few months. She was a wonderful, beautiful woman, but she never knew it.
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Touching, poetic story-telling of the strength of your mother’s spirit. ❤
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Thank you Olga. I wish I told her how incredible she was.
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Very nice. It takes a strong will and heaps of determination to do what she did.
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Yes – she was passionate about dancing. I don’t think she could stop herself. Even into her 80’s she was incredibly lithe and graceful.
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Is this really a photo of your mother, Jane?
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No – I don’t have any photos of her dancing – nothing at all from before she married my father (a photographer) aged 29, apart from one of her mother holding her and her twin sister when they were babies, and one of the twins when they were in their teens. Very sad.
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Very fond memories I guess. I love the narrative of courage and endless determination.
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My mother believed herself to be weak. She was so wrong…
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