Bland On Bland – Ladies

The theme for this week’s JVG Radio Method is “Ladies”

[audio:JVG_Poem20090927.mp3]

Ed Bates back in the guitar chair.

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Ladies

“This way thank you Ladies – Hold still” – A blinding light
A photograph is taken; graduation night

The Sonia Beal Deportment School – 1953
Turning young girls into ladies – whatever that might be

A portrait of a moment – one fraction of a second
Frozen for all time – the future ever to be reckoned

Youth and hopes eternal; unchanging, bound, exposed
A moment left behind even as the shutter closed

Behind the smiles; the dreams – never crushed or realised
Endless possibilities, still awaiting, paralysed

Destined for a cupboard; forgotten, creased and torn
A postcard to their grandkids forty years before they’re born

Discovered decades later in the drawer where it was tossed
Along with other keepsakes, their relevance long lost

“God she looks so beautiful, so happy – so alive!”
All that was and might have been in that moment still survives

And the benefit of knowing how her story would unfold
The joy and disappointments – a story often told

They giggle at the hairstyles and the formal, graceful air
Try to tap her thoughts through the static, distant stare

Like a mirror spanning time and space where none and nought can pass
Still, logic won’t dissuade from putting fingers to the glass

They wonder at her motives, how she chose to live her life
Schooled in etiquette and manners – to become the perfect wife

That pressure, peer and family endured by older generations
They would never tolerate to meet others expectations

They will have an education and excel at their career
Slot in Motherhood and social life – in balance and without fear

They will have and do it all, they’re told, content with nothing less
More modern, enlightened expectations redefine success

“This way thank you Ladies – Hold still – Hold still – One more”
Another postcard begins its journey in the bottom of a drawer

© Copyright 2009 Ian Bland