By Barbara Beyer Malley
rhapsody June 2nd, 2007
Following is another poem from
this most amazing family.
Written by Ernestine Cobern
Beyer’s daughter Barbara,
especially for her daughter,
Dr. Kathleen Malley-Morrison,
who has been a teacher for many
years, and for Sarah, the daughter
Kathie shares with Sarah’s birth
mother, Joanne. As of today, the
little girl in the poem is now a
young woman of 27.
From Barbara:
“…Kathie was injured in an
automobile accident in 1965.
I was thrilled when “Sarah’s
Game” was accepted by a
magazine but shocked and
disappointed when the editors
chose to leave out the last two
lines.
When I protested, they
answered that sometimes
poets didn’t realize when a
poem should end. Don’t you
think they were mistaken? The
whole point of my tribute
to Kathie was to show how
gracefully and cheerfully
she accepted the game little
Sarah had invented.”
Sarah’s Game
Mommy, Mommy, let’s pretend
That I am in the wheeling chair,
And while I’m wheeling, you can
stand
And walk and run and climb a
stair.
Mommy, see me turn the wheels?
Her chubby arms propel the air:
Sarah’s testing how it feels
To navigate a wheeling chair.
You may push me, Mommy, now,
Down the hall and to my room,
Just as sometimes I push you –
Faster, faster… vrooom, vrooom!
When Daddy opens up the door
I’ll wheel to him across the floor.
Oh, won’t he be surprised to see
That I am you and you are me!
When I grow up, perhaps I too
Can have a wheeling chair like you…
Mommy, aren’t we having fun?
Indeed we are, my precious one.
