Word Plays & Stories…
Served In A Tall Glass.
Cathy Lorraine Bagley
Copyright © 2011 Cathy Lorraine Bagley
Any resemblances to actual persons in the works presented in these pages are strictly coincidental.
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2011-10-10
Dedication
This art piece is dedicated to my mother, Mary who has been a life long inspiration. She challenges her children and grands alike to take a stand moving in a direction when staying in place might present the most comfortable option. For this and many other reasons, she has garnered my undying love and devotion.
LUV YA MA!
Acknowledgements
I’d like to acknowledge the city of Beaufort, South Carolina for their breath-taking pier and river walks along the historic Broad River and the city of Roswell, Georgia for its awe-inspiring pathways along the Chattahoochee River. These areas provided the most unbelievable and beautiful scenery placing me in a peaceful frame of mind to make this work and its completion possible. Kudos to my best friend, “Peaches” from Pensacola. I would list her name but she’d kill me - I still have three more works to publish!
Naysayers, Dragonfly Wings, And The Secret.
This is an ode to those seemingly invisible, timid and weak individuals societies unfairly cast aside, mistreat and misrepresent; people who smile when others frown, move when others balk and sing when others complain with hoarse voices…
A penetrating look through their hidden layers might reveal the true essence of those labeled unpopular, obsolete, foolish and insignificant. Their sources of inner strength might astound any one prudent enough to pay closer attention. Many individuals lack substance and depth. Their identities are affixed to fleeting objects, causes or persons. The yardsticks they often employ to measure greatness and success are calibrated based on perceived levels of financial gains and other tangible competitive conquests over time.
Those fortunately armed with the knowledge of their true life purpose, might initially appear humble to the uninformed braggart and bully. With such treasures secured and stored in deeply protected places, the downcast along with an inexplicable fortitude often possess an omniscient smile. They endure unmentionable hardships with grace because they are blessed with quiet resolve. Some people hold unimaginable secrets for decades bestowing an amazing innermost peace; one if not awarded at an actual birth, most likely during some kind of later spiritual rebirth.
Many feel those in churches who praise and worship loudest garner more heavenly attentions.
Are they Heaven’s divining rods and its true message carriers? Can a subdued worshiper ever lend effective competition in such situations bending a winged ear or two?
There must exist an old southern spiritual somewhere with lyrics professing that some Angels move more swiftly and efficiently in silent, still minds. Perhaps being more primed to receive heavenly messages, they have the unusual ability to filter out the static of deafening incantations and exhaustive pew demonstrations.
Who could speak of the quiet calm heard by only a few during any revival’s noise?
This author offers this answer to the above question: Only those totally captivated by exclusively directed whispers.
Delightful or devastating news makes them strain to absorb every beautiful or horrific image landscaped in their minds… channeled whispered breaths blown into select receptive ears. Afraid to miss a note, they remain focused amidst a confused background of supplicants; ordered and disordered chaos offered as chants, confessions and professions. Visions flood the senses resulting in a stillness akin to a slice of porous hearty bread resting in a magnificent sea of gravy; remaining still so as to sop up every bead’s flavor! Some seeming absent in voice, purpose or backbone have shifted to altered, absorptive or a receiving states for purposes to be determined only in due time.
Certainly people who do not cry, scream and shout on cue; hesitate to retaliate when wronged or give without reciprocity smiling when hope evades … must have secrets! What lies beneath is a question seldom asked by many cultures fixated on surface evident characteristics. Undue focus on the utterances of naysayers and gossips spreading inaccurate, harmful and unsubstantiated rumors must cease!
Do you rush to judge others and ascribe stigmatizing titles that typecast and brand? This word recognizes those remaining calm with gazes forward and upward focused on deeper lasting truths rather than on hearsay passed down today’s many human wireless lines. ” Intrepid” should be engraved on medallions and hung around every reluctant hero’s neck. They might represent invisible potential dynamos in crowds with dwarfed voices. Many battles have been won by the dual strategy of employing obvious and covert warriors. Beware of the quiet ones for they might have been chosen for a reason for disclosure in a particular season! Unique power to effect global change often arises from unlikely sources delivered by indeterminable vectors.
Courage and integrity come from contemplative places veiled deeply within a person’s soul. They can be somewhat paradoxical: boisterously quiet yet dynamically still depending on time and circumstance. Without showboating, whining or drawing needless attention, eventually they step into the spotlight; their qualitative values become measurable. Substance is occasionally buried lying dormant until called upon when most needed. Such a profound revelation subconsciously steadies and assures this author.
Quiet strength is intoxicating and should be infectious!
Thus, to all misunderstood, taunted and castaway people content and quiet in tucked away places, remain steady on course holding down the fort as society’s silent and disarmingly effective combatants! Sway in the wind without care while worldly gusts attempt your displacement. When men quantify, negate or typecast you, laugh then politely step over, up or around them realizing you have been blessed with the most unique gift as a receiver or a seer.
Rejoice in the fact that there is ONE who knows your true value - He often smiles looking fondly upon you! Cascades of dragonflies with wings aflutter convey secret messages. Directed by Angels, they whisper combat ready and tested strategies to take you alone through both secure and catastrophic times. Blessings might indeed come to the apparently invisible, timid and weak! The unexpected few may have the last laugh collecting the greatest rewards in time.
This word story is presented in four parts. It cautions naysayers to be watchful of where they tread for in the future, they might trip over rather than step on those intentionally casted aside discovering themselves the ones suddenly alone, dejected and left behind!
