November 2016 - A Special Find

​My dad came to me today to show me something he had found in a draw at his house. He told me that he opened an ‘empty’ draw in a bedroom that he had opened many times before. As the draw jerked opened, three, small paintings, that he had never seen before, plonked down flat into the draw. All of Mum’s signature native flowers and birds. Two of the paintings were complete but one of them had only a grey lead out line visible of the intended bird in among clematis vines, making the third painting incomplete.  Obviously, they were standing upright and out of view for the 15 years since my darling mother’s passing. Dad and I were amazed and overwhelmed by yet another treasure left behind by Mum. Judging by the date on them this had to be the last paintings mum ever did. This inspired me to write this poem. I had the two complete paintings, the incomplete painting and the poem that I wrote framed together and gave them back to dad. It now holds pride of place in his home. 

     Treasures left behind.
 
 By  Julie Dascoli.
 
 I looked inside a box today,
A box, inside a drawer.
I found a treasure stashed away,
So many years before.
 
Three small paintings I discovered,
Painted by my Mother.
Each stroke of brush applied with love,
Her talent like no other.
 
One with small birds, blue and quaint,
And toadstools twos and threes.
One with budgies plumed with colour,
Perched high in gum trees.
 
The third one has Clematis flower,
Entwining round and round.
The bird that was supposed to be,
Is nowhere to be found.
 
You see the angels took my mum,
This bird she could not start.
So this painting has a void,
And so too does my heart.