Audrey Mae SpencerSpencer Historical CemeteryHenry Straight / William Spencer Family Cemetery
Vaughn Historical CemeterySpencers of East Greenwich, RI

Posts Tagged Crossing The Bar

17 July 2002

Heather: When did you do all this reading of poetry? Was it when you were young?

Audrey: No, it was when all the children left home. That’s when I began to read Emily Dickinson and other poets. The greatest poet of all was Sappho. She lived on an island, wore little or no clothes, went off in a canoe… Emily Dickinson was the closest to her in poetry writing. Crossing the Bar by Tennyson, the English poet, is on life and dying (crossing and dying) using words like “creator” “pilot”.  When I die, I want all my children, grandchildren to read and/or recite that poem together at my grave site next to Dad.

my-children-and-kin-crossing-the-bar_2

Audrey’s last request to her children and kin: “plant small flowers when you visit my grave site”.

10 April 2004

Heather: Mother, I agree. Desiderata is not an easy piece to learn.

Audrey: I look at these things and read them over and over. Crossing the Bar seems simple and clear versus Desiderata has a deep meaning.

You forget. Seems so I didn’t do too much, but when I get someone like you to put it all together. My head. Seems a lot.

(Explanation: Refers to looking at the Artistic Display Stand [WilsonJones Catalog Rack] of all her work.)