well thanks for the reads
20 countries yesterday on Wordpress, 10 so far today
here on my 3 Bloggers, 10 countries or so, as far as the day goes
Tonight into the morning marks my mum's Quing Ming as the Chinese say
She went to bed and died besides my dad
read Padre Pio and Me for more
Her death set off a chain of events
8 weeks day my dad nearly died too
but Padre Pio really did come to the rescue
Finally 3 years later, after visiting him
every single day, I ended up with a Shanghai wife
The 12th May when mum died, they all stopped up
through the night and listened to Celine Dion on the radio
You Lifted Me Up was the song
so Health and Happiness to Celine too
that song has become part of the family now
Dad said mum was as strong as a horse
And he was a Blacksmith so a perfect compliment
which makes me a SOB, Son of a Blacksmith
May also marks the month when Chinese Grandpa died
in 2004 And if you go to a Graveyard in Shanghai
you can see my name on his tomb, the son in law
michaelgcasey in gold lettering on a black stone
His ashes were interred and my bigger daughter was there
she put a Christmas card on top of the box with his ashes in
I was left holding the baby back home in Birmingham
May was also the month when I had one our lodgers die
on me he had a heart attack and I had to deal with it
I was still 20 then
So May is full of memories for me
And this is a poem I wrote on a bus in November 1987
I wanted the Undertaker to be a poet, I was still writing
The Butcher The Baker and The Undertaker by Michael Casey (me)
The Dead and The Living (c)
by
Michael Casey
I first saw a deceased when I was nine years old ,my father said not
to worry as the dead are the same as the living , only the laughter
has left them , the sparkle has gone from their eyes , the worry has
been lifted from their shoulders , and their voice has vanished to
eternity .
In paradise the sparkle will return for it is the twinkle of the
stars , the laughter will return too for it is the morning breeze and
the turning tides are their sides shaking with laughter .
I treat the deceased with the same courtesy as I give to the living,
though I find the deceased are always more polite . My father also
had a few words to say about the living .
He said that the living are only the caretakers of the soul , yet
they think their existence is everything , that they know everything
because they experience many things with their senses .
What the living don't acknowledge is that their time is short and
when I lay their bodies to rest then their souls continue without
them , without their strong , without their weak , without their
beautiful or even ugly temporary form , to where I cannot say , only
that it is a better place .
Percy the undertaker placed the lid on the coffin ,the soul was free
THE BEGINNING
so there you go, now you know what May means to me
I also know for a fact,
my Mum is leading the prayers for Peace in Ukraine
she always had the Rosary on the go, with her hand in her pocket
as she watched tv too
as I remember my mother the last time I saw her alive, in her blue smock,
she is part of Mary's Blue Army
