This Golden Moment: December 21, 2009

Lea Lane

Location: Florida, USA
Birthday: August 26

Title: freelance writer/editor

Bio: “I’ve discovered the secret of life,” Kay Thompson, the eccentric entertainer and “Eloise” author, once said. “A lot of hard work, a lot of sense of humor, a lot of joy and a lot of tra-la-la!” And that's been my life: As a travel writer for over 30 years, I've been around the block (more like around the world), and I write true stories about interesting people and places. I've lived an unconventional life in conventional trappings. Been a corporate VP, worked with foster kids, acted in an Indie ("Nurse 1"), was on Jeopardy!. I've been managing editor of a travel publication, written for the Times, and authored books. OS is my home, but I also blog on The Huffington Post, and I've contributed (mostly anonymously) to everything from encyclopedias to guidebooks. Married young, divorced late; married late, widowed early, I dated lots in-between -- and survived a scary illness. After being happily, peacefully solo for many years, I'm now happily married again. I founded and still edit www.sololady.com, a lifestyle Website for single women. I'm truly grateful for each precious day, each well-earned wrinkle, my family, my cat. Truth, laughter, friendship, late love. And this blog -- on this wonderful site!

MY RECENT POSTS

A Sad Parallel: Reflecting on the Suicide of Mary Kennedy
May 17, 2012 11:26PM
Wild Hair on Wild Hatch: A Sassoon Moment
May 09, 2012 10:38PM
Two Dog Years
April 18, 2012 03:04PM
Bits & Pieces
March 28, 2012 02:56PM
Bandstand & The Headband
April 19, 2012 08:34AM

MY RECENT COMMENTS

Lea Lane's Links

LINKS: -MY SON'S MEMOIR, THE ZEROES, Now in Paperback; -CLICK HERE TO AID FAMINE VICTIMS IN SOMOLIA; -MY WEBSITE FOR SOLO WOMEN
Favorite THINGS posts: -A-Z Travel Tips; -My Last Meals; -Poem:This Golden Moment; -Scars; -Eating Blind; -I'm a Mad Men Gal; -The Anniversary I'll Never Forget; -My Son Lost His Shirt and Found The Zeroes!; -10 Books in a Blink; -How Unrelated Symptoms Saved My Life; -Yeats/Torture; -Is Empathy a Pejorative?; -Media Vultures on Death Watch; -Has America Jumped the Shark?; -Why I Stay Here; -A White-Knuckle Landing; -15 ways to Cut Back; -Birth & Death: The Circle of Life; -Fear of Flying & My Near Misses; -Waiting for the Blood Test; -When a Post Goes Viral; -25 Things About Me; -I Don't Celebrate Christmas; -A Scary Dream; -Racing at 150 mph!; -Quarantined on Thanksgiving; -Musings, 3 am; -Remembering Racism; -Problems with August; -Losing a Dream, Losing a House
Favorite FUN posts: -Why My Cat Sits Joins Us at Dinner; -Five Ways to Keep Mad Men; -The Weirdest Meat I Ever Ate; -"Independents" Day!; -Real Lessons from The Real Housewives; -Another Husband for a Minute; -Joan Walsh, Where are You?; -Monkey Business!; -10 Unexpected Bonuses from Health Reform; -About My Bidet; -What Happened in Vegas?; -No Sex & 9 Other Ways to Spring Ahead; -To Suzy: It's Over; -Valentine Poem for Sweetie; -Why Bill Maher is Angry; -iPuke? iPeek?; -The Embarrassing Things in My Purse; -Resolutions I Will NOT Make; -Ode to My Tweezers; -Ode to a Groundhog; -My Reality TV Addiction; -I Got Published in the New Yorker; -Broccoli Obama; -101 Words: He Never Calls, He Never Writes; -I'm Not Who You Think I Am
Favorite PEOPLE posts: -The Reality of Ramona; -Happy First Anniversary, Love; -Messages from the Donald; -The Bellman With Tourettes; -Elvis Trivia; -The Woman Who Slept with Rohairmoo; -Chelsea Clinton & Moi; -What Fay Vincent Told Me about Steinbrenner; -Why I Didn't Love Daddy; -A Play Connects to Famous People I've Known; -Remembering Rue McClanahan; -My Son Just Married Me!; -Rick Died & I Was There for Him; -For Nathan, Who Was only Two; -Unexpected Lovers at Passover; -Six Degrees of Separation; -Porn King, Coke Prez, Murderer; -My 2000 NYT Interview; -My Man in Rio; -You Caught Me, I'm in Love; -Dumped By Answering Machine; -My Best Friend Ended Her Life at 37; -to lea at 17; -Phyllis Schlafly Drooled on Me; -Best in Show? Not This Lover; -The Man Who Met Einstein; -The Sahalis: Symbol of a Decade?; -To My Sister, On a Big Birthday; -My Birthday/Blogiversary; -Mad Men: When My Bosses Were My Lovers; -Julia (and Other Famed Chefs); -A Nice Jewish Girl Named for a Racetrack; -A Conehead at the Fair: A Summer Tale; -Anne Frank Would Have Been 80; -Did I Really Just Tell You That?; -Becoming Invisible; -Elizabeth Edwards, Joan Rivers: Two Moms; -My Surprising Talk With a Naked Actor; -Why I'm Alone; -Kate Winslet and Other (Drama) Queens; -My Valentine Lover, 2006; -My Life in 100 Words; -One Snowy Dud, One Sexy Stud; -My Gender Bender, Victor-Victoria Cruise; -How I Wound Up in Claus Von Bulow's Apartment; -To Odetta; -My Late-in-Life Love; -An Ugly Duckling OS Tale; -To My Neighbor Hillary; -OJ: You're Finally Juiced; -On Being Single; -Wisdom from a Hooker; -The Seeing-Eye man; -Two Weddings and a Funeral; -Ted Kennedy's Brave Fight, and My Husband's; -Dinner with Hill and Bill; -The Abuser
Favorite PLACES posts: -Four-Part Antarctica Series; -Keukenhof garden, Amsterdam; -Belgian Spring; -Mugged in Stockholm; -A Life Along I-95; -A Magic Invite to Firenze; -On New Zealand's Milford sound; -Honeymoon Blip on the Black Sea; -Eat, Pray, Scratch in Bali; -Americana: Mohonk Then & Now; -Scary Journey on the Norwegian Ferry; -The World's Most Colorful Neighborhood; -The Magical Slot Canyon; -The Other Ground Zero; -India Life Lessons; -Wild Dogs in Romania; -Flutterbies in the Amazon, & Leo; -Blue Lights in Barcelona; -Crossing the Atlantic; -Two Faraway Thanksgivings, & What I Learned; -Sabrina's Walk of Remembrance in NYC; -South Beach: Hot & Cool; -Watching Greenland Melt; -Carnaval in Colombia; -Alone on a Cliff; -An Irish Ramble; -Dramatic Polar Photos; -Argentina: Penguins, Penguins, Penguins!; -New York's High Line

« Back to Posts

OCTOBER 16, 2010 2:06PM

Rate: 35 Flag

ibibo.com

I celebrate this moment

Of health, love, new loving:

My sons strong and caring,

My precious girls so thriving.

All right with my world.

To keep this golden moment

I’d pin it on my collar

Like a moth in amber,

Or a locket with a photo,

Amulets to ward off time.

But to hold this golden moment

I'll write of it instead

And hold it close,

Still faintly burnished

Like a precious star.

This fading, golden moment

Fleeting even now,

Evanescent, glimmering,

Yet swiftly dimming

Under clouds that gather.

I’ll go on to other moments

Filled with fear and longing,

Darkness, pain, or emptiness,

Unknowns that haunt,

That taunt with loss inevitable.

But I had this one fine moment

Placed in these words,

Retained through tomorrows,

Returned to some day

When I’ll need to remember.

Author tags:

poetry, poem, a moment in time

Your tags:

TIP:

Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!

Comments

Post a comment

The Moth-in-Amber line is incredible! R.

Jonathan Wolfman

October 16, 2010 02:11 PM

I do not remember you ever writing poetry before this one. But wow! I love the repeating phrase with a few twists. It is like a good hook to a song. "I’ll go on to other moments." That was my favorite.

Dr. Spudman44

October 16, 2010 02:30 PM

The use of 'moment' in each new stanza is very effective. I like the idea of being able to pinpoint that one perfect moment...

mypsyche

October 16, 2010 02:39 PM

I have had those moments that I hold close. You have said it so incredibly well.

Lunchlady 2

October 16, 2010 02:40 PM

Treasures - the moment and the poem.

Ellen Hawley Roddick

October 16, 2010 03:34 PM

Oh for a moment that all's right with the world. I'd "pin it on my collar too"
Poetry, Lea? Wonderful, wonderful.

trilogy

October 16, 2010 03:52 PM

absolutely beautiful, the idea of keeping a memory like a jewel.

Amy A

October 16, 2010 04:36 PM

I have indelible moments that I'll never lose. Many of them I wish I could obliterate, but some are good. One in particular I want to be my last thought.

Boanerges1

October 16, 2010 04:53 PM

Beautiful metaphors, beautiful moment. You make me think I should pay more attention to the good times. Lovely. R.

Alysa Salzberg

October 16, 2010 04:55 PM

Mmmmmm very, very nice.

Patie

October 16, 2010 05:11 PM

Thanks, all. This site is so wonderful when it comes to trying out things you rarely do. I have written poems over the years, mainly inspired by love affairs and such, but not about much else. It feels good to celebrate something and spread your wings a bit among people who will read your feelings and not dismiss them. That is why I stay.

Lea Lane

October 16, 2010 05:16 PM

Thanks for sharing this...so real!

Patrick Frank

October 16, 2010 05:45 PM

It's the golden moments we capture that brighten the darker hours, Lea. You expressed it so well here.
~R

FusunA

October 16, 2010 07:02 PM

Lovely and evocative, Lea. Thanks for stretching and risking and sharing!

Deborah Sosin

October 16, 2010 07:25 PM

word will keep what we'll forget

vanessa seijo

October 16, 2010 08:16 PM

Delightful prose!

Fred Hallman

October 16, 2010 08:34 PM

Lea, wonderful thoughts expressed here and also very cool that it coincided with the winter solstice.

designanator

October 16, 2010 08:59 PM

i like this, lea, your poetry debut, at least for as long as i've been reading your blog. it's lovely and i like that it acknowledges that not all moments in life are happy or worth pinning on one's collar (great line, as others have said), but maybe it's the juxtaposition that makes the happy ones all the sweeter? i like very much that you wrote about it instead of holding it. ;

femme forte aka candace

October 16, 2010 11:42 PM

Very nice poetry. Very nice imagery.

J D Smith

October 17, 2010 12:10 AM

Your words are fine medicine for the soul.

Algis Kemezys

October 17, 2010 04:06 AM

This is as much a prayer as a poem. I could benefit from posting it in front of my face, or on my forehead.

xoxox

When our grandson goes home on Sundays, Rich always tells him that's he's going to put him in his pocket, so that he can spend the week with him.

denese

October 17, 2010 10:55 AM

so you can write poetry, too, can you? Well, I'm officially jealous!

Seriously...I liked that this approached an idea that's talked about a lot (and which most of us strive for) in a fresh way. Your images made it come alive rather than being a platitude.

Nelle Engoron

October 17, 2010 12:58 PM

I hope the date in the subject line does not mean this moment is altogether gone for you. Lovely, and rated.

LizG

October 19, 2010 12:00 PM

I don't remember ever reading any of your poetry, but this is exquisite.

Fay Paxton

October 19, 2010 05:15 PM

You do everything you write such justice. Poetry suits you!

Cathy GF

October 21, 2010 11:51 PM

Lea, this is superb. You are right; I missed it. It is on there now. R-

Dave Rickert

October 23, 2010 01:41 PM

Thank you, Dave. Quite a service you provide. Will try again.

Lea Lane

October 23, 2010 04:16 PM

Honest, earnest, direct and lovely. One doesn't see that combo very often. Grand. Rated

AJCalhoun

October 24, 2010 03:02 AM

So nice to see this poem's return!

Jonathan Wolfman

October 24, 2010 06:27 AM

A brilliant foray into stoptiming. Something no one can do, though the attempt through art is life-enhancing. Memory fades. But one's artwork remains when all else ends. Or so it seems to me.

Leon Freilich

October 26, 2010 10:08 AM

Too perfect! This past August my son's lung collapsed with led to find a mass in his chest and surgery. The fact that he is so much better now and healing brought me to be so thankful. When all is right with our world it is good to take note. In a flash things can change.