Analysis of Granting Permission
Last Wednesday night a noble, epic,
and wonderfully eccentric force left us.
She was our Grace.
I remember her as a fixture in the chapel,
always there, like a pillar,
holding out a light for us.
Like a candle set there to help us light our way back.
She did this for us so effortlessly without having to say
anything.
Whenever I came,
I found myself often looking for her,
and finding her there, feeling assured.
When she was not there, I noticed a light was missing
and the chapel was a little less bright.
In her silent glowing she granted me permission
to relight my own candle
whenever it went out,
and sometimes she would light it for me
just by being near.
I remember her marvelous, magical flair.
I often wondered where it came from
or how it came to be......
She came in the most astonishing package
wrapped differently every time,
in all the years I knew her.
The hats, the scarves, the gloves, and shoes,
the dangles and bangles,
bells and whistles,
the fabrics in designs, drifts and swags
no one else could quite possibly replicate.
I could not wait to see how she would stage herself
next.
When I asked her so many times how she did it,
she would shrug her shoulders
and chuckle with twinkling eyes.
But by her ever-changing 'present'
she granted me permission
to seek out my own ribbons and bows
to wrap myself in
and to celebrate what was in my own package.
I remember one evening she came to a
potluck gathering at my house,
for a rare appearance.
She left in my shoes without knowing,
and I woke up the next day to find hers
left at the front door.
I was so amused
that I never told her about it,
never saw those shoes again, even as I returned hers.
In our innocent exchange,
she granted me permission at a juncture in my life
to choose to walk differently
as I went out to buy a new pair of shoes.
I remember her as a faceted mirror
of her daughter Grace.
who stopped using her nickname,
reclaiming their connection.
Grace and Grace. Grace for Grace.
Together they held the center of the wheel for us.
One was rarely without the other, more like sisters,
candle and flame.
In seeing them together I was granted permission
to serve,
to show up for others, and to love unconditionally.
But what I remember the most were the crazy,
halting stories
of an outrageous person who would not apologize
for being more outrageous than anyone else,
who broke all the rules every day
and got away with it every time.
In her audacity she granted me permission
to be myself
with all my flaws, packaging and shining light,
to stop apologizing.....and to not be afraid
to break the rules.
To understand that our own grace and imperfections
should be
embraced and celebrated fully.
I like to think of Grace now rising,
as a fixture in the sky,
taking her place, holding out a light for us
in her petite and yet larger than life way.
Like a star suspended there always
to help light our way back.
That upon gazing up and seeing her twinkling
and chuckling to us,
we can again feel assured,
by being granted permission
to walk this life
as a sparkling, unique essence for each other
as we remember her,
our Grace.
Scheme | XAB CDAEFGHDIGJKCXLX XXLMNDOPPAXQXRSTXKXXM XXXGSXXRSXULO DBHKBASHKXL LXTXFNKQJXXXLL GXAFXEGAIKUDDB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110101010 01000010111 11101 1010010100010 111010 1010111 10101111111011 1111111000011011 10 01011 111101010 010011001 1111111001110 0010101011 0010101101010 111110 010111 001111111 11101 101001001001 110101111 111111 11001010010 11001001 0101110 01010101 010010 1010 010001101 1111110010 111111111101 1 111011011111 111010 01011001 110101010 1101010 111111001 1110 01101101110 10101101110 1100111 101010 110110110 0111011110 11011 11101 111010011 10111011011010 01010001 11010101010011 1111100 11111101111 101001010010 10101 111001 0101010 101111 0101101010111 1110010101110 1001 01010101110010 11 11111001101000 111010010010 1010 1101010111010 11010101101 111011001 0101111001 0001001101010 111 11111000101 11111101 1101 101110110010 11 01010010 111111110 1010001 10011010111 00010110111 10101011 1111011 1011010100100 01011 1101101 11010010 1111 101001101110 110100 101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 3,413 |
Words | 665 |
Sentences | 34 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 16, 21, 13, 11, 14, 14 |
Lines Amount | 92 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 350 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 82 |
About this poem
In memory of Grace Huffman Sr.
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Written on June 10, 2009
Submitted by spiritu700 on August 01, 2022
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:19 min read
- 3 Views
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"Granting Permission" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/132825/granting-permission>.
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