"Being brought up in Ireland into a large family, I have always known deep within that children are a poor man's riches and family is a rich man's best friend. My dearly departed mother used to say whenever I behaved badly, ' Billy Forde; why is home the place where you are loved the best, but act the worse?' and I used to reply, 'Because I can be me here!' And whenever my father stepped out of line mum would always remind him of his first family duty as a father by telling him the variation of a quotation that I later learned was first coined by Henry Ward Beecher, an American Congregationalist clergyman and social reformer of the 19th century, 'Paddy, your first duty as a father to our children is to love their mother!' I suppose that the lesson mum most taught me was that a family is a place where values are mirrored between brother and sister, belief is fused and minds collide. I know that if ever I required a mirror image of myself, the closest I'll ever get to it will be found in a brother or sister.
Whenever I think of my family; for instance, when I pray or when I am recalling old times, I always start with my Maternal Grandparents as I was born in their Irish house almost 75 years ago and it is my last wish that a part of my ashes will be deposited in their grave when I die. Because it was my mother who shaped me more than my father, I suppose it is natural that I begin my family tree with the parents who shaped her in her youth. Below is a poem that I wrote three years ago about my family tree:
'A family are we' : Copyright William Forde: July 2017.
'Sometimes I think the time is now, but it's really then;
and here is over there and where is when.
Sometimes I open my mouth and my mum comes pouring out.
Then, when I reply, it is my dad's voice I often hear from way on high.
I frequently walk in my parents' footsteps and am never alone, how could I be?
as long as my family remains a part of me, they influence every thought, word and deed
of what I am, what I do and all I'll ever be.
I am one and I am me, I am also you, I am many, we are we.
We were always meant to be a family of love and passion oft divided,
a hot house of emotion and contention that ne'er subsided:
a perfect fusion of past and present, desire and endless possibility,
a beacon of never-ending hope and filial durability.
A family are we.
I always tried to keep my presence wholesome, but without my parents, brothers, sisters, wife and children, my life would have proved entirely loathsome.'"
William Forde: July 17th, 2017.
Whenever I think of my family; for instance, when I pray or when I am recalling old times, I always start with my Maternal Grandparents as I was born in their Irish house almost 75 years ago and it is my last wish that a part of my ashes will be deposited in their grave when I die. Because it was my mother who shaped me more than my father, I suppose it is natural that I begin my family tree with the parents who shaped her in her youth. Below is a poem that I wrote three years ago about my family tree:
'A family are we' : Copyright William Forde: July 2017.
'Sometimes I think the time is now, but it's really then;
and here is over there and where is when.
Sometimes I open my mouth and my mum comes pouring out.
Then, when I reply, it is my dad's voice I often hear from way on high.
I frequently walk in my parents' footsteps and am never alone, how could I be?
as long as my family remains a part of me, they influence every thought, word and deed
of what I am, what I do and all I'll ever be.
I am one and I am me, I am also you, I am many, we are we.
We were always meant to be a family of love and passion oft divided,
a hot house of emotion and contention that ne'er subsided:
a perfect fusion of past and present, desire and endless possibility,
a beacon of never-ending hope and filial durability.
A family are we.
I always tried to keep my presence wholesome, but without my parents, brothers, sisters, wife and children, my life would have proved entirely loathsome.'"
William Forde: July 17th, 2017.