The Stick-Together Families

The Stick-Together Families

~Edgar Guest~ 

 

The stick-together families are happier by far

Than the brothers and the sisters who take separate highways are.

The gladdest people living are the wholesome folks who make

A circle at the fireside that no power but death can break.

And the finest of conventions ever held beneath the sun

Are the little family gatherings when the busy day is done.

There are rich folk, there are poor folk, who imagine they are wise,

And they're very quick to shatter all the little family ties.

Each goes searching after pleasure in his own selected way,

Each with strangers likes to wander, and with strangers likes to play.

But it's bitterness they harvest, and it's empty joy they find,

For the children that are wisest are the stick-together kind.

There are some who seem to fancy that for gladness they must roam,

That for smiles that are the brightest they must wander far from home.

That the strange friend is the true friend, and they travel far astray

And they waste their lives in striving for a joy that's far away,

But the gladdest sort of people, when the busy day is done,

Are the brothers and the sisters who together share their fun.

It's the stick-together family that wins the joys of earth,

That hears the sweetest music and that finds the finest mirth;

It's the old home roof that shelters all the charm that life can give;

There you find the gladdest play-ground, there the happiest spot to live.

And, O weary, wandering brother, if contentment you would win,

Come you back unto the fireside and be comrade with your kin.

From "Just Folks", The Reilly & Lee Co., (c) 1917

http://www.with-heart-and-hands.com/2015/08/making-fidget-quilts-for-alzheimers.html


 Michele Bilyeu Creates With Heart and Hands as she shares her imaginative, magical, and healing journey from Alaska to Oregon. Creating, designing, sewing, quilting, and wildcrafting... from my heart and with my hands.

Life Unfolding (Patchwork Quilt)

They unfolded your lives one by one

They laid out your patchwork under the sun
And people gathered from miles around
To witness your quilt spread on the ground

And then they called out your names
Oh yes they called out your names
Oh and you’ll live forever

You know that I’ll be loving you just like a patchwork quilt

Well there were men and women and mothers and fathers
Sisters and brothers and daughters and sons
And children and babies and lovers and friends
They all lay before me sewn into one

And then they called out your names
Oh yes they called out your names
Oh and you’ll live forever 

You know that I’ll be loving you just like a patchwork quilt

Oh your lives had meaning and your lives had joy
You touched so many people many more than you will know
And you wrap yourselves around me as I walk down these roads
You are letting me feel your beautiful souls

I feel the warmth of your lives
I feel the warmth of your lives
Oh and you will live forever 

You know that I’ll be loving you just like a patchwork quilt

My heart spills over flowing with tears
I cry for your suffering and for your shortened years
And I’ll take you with me as I walk away
Remembering you who have died as *slaves


Yes, I remember your name
Yes, I remember your name
Oh and you’ll live forever

You know that I’ll be loving you just like a patchwork quilt.



("Patchwork Quilt": by Sweet Honey in the Rock)
*Honey later switched the wording from slaves to AIDS for the AIDS Quilt movement

My Blog Post Links/Tutorials for Making a Cross Quilt of  Your Own:

 Designing a Liberated Cross Block and Quilt

Basics for Making a Cross, Plus, or "Arithmetic" Quilt

 Cross or Plus Quilts: Free Patterns

The Healing Power of Love Cross Quilt

Thank you, sweet honey and thank you Hillary Rodham Clinton and Tim Kaine who reminded us that we are stronger together and as Tim quoted from the bible... "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up".

*And Happy, Happy Birthday to my daughter who is keeping the faith in the bigger picture,
I love you, my eldest daughter of the earth. The sun always shines, the clouds always part, and the rainbow is always one breath away.

Michele Bilyeu Creates With Heart and Hands as she shares her imaginative, magical, and healing journey from Alaska to Oregon. Creating, designing, sewing, quilting, and wildcrafting... from my heart and with my hands.