Sunrays and Lily Smiles: (Sweet Memories of Poetry Cottage)

By Liana Wendy Howarth

In Sunrays and Lily Smiles, Liana Wendy Howarth has added to and included previous writings from her e-book, Fragrance from the Spring, a sweet collection of poetry for all ages.

Inside her Poetry Cottage, youll find something for everyone, from the little ones to the elderly, for the sick and for those who feel like there is no hope, or for those who just find great comfort in reading and rejoicing.

Theres a special room waiting for you. Come inside and feel love embrace you. Walk the garden and be immersed in heavenly fragrance. Stroll around the tranquil pond and see health and encouragement reflected. You will leave feeling refreshed and find your joy restored.

Its a retreat for one, somewhere to share with best friends or a perfect place to enjoy a cherished family vacation, where youll be blessed with many treasured memories for years to come.

A COTTAGE BY THE SEA

The sea foam, it rises

Breaking forth from the waves

The seagulls signify their presence

And the sand dunes, a path they pave

Follow the path with me

A quaint cottage rests quite near

With roses and sweet daffodils

Climbing trellises at the rear

Take a dreamy look with me

Through each exquisite window

Please seek a room that suits your needs

And there youll find joy and comfort

... like the promise in the rainbow

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 11, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490858562

Liana Wendy Howarth

Liana Wendy Howarth is a poet, an award-winning lyricist, and a writer of children’s short stories. When a Child Sings is her third book, following from Sunrays and Lily Smiles and Fragrance from the Spring. An avid blogger and originally from England, she now resides in Australia with her husband, John, and children, Martin, Sarah, and Brittany.

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 Liana Wendy Howarth.

The ballerina illustration that appears on the frontispiece

© 2014 Suzanne Davis Harden. All Rights Reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4908-5854-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-5855-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-5856-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014919521

WestBow Press rev. date: 12/10/2014

Contents

AROUND THE KITCHEN TABLE

COMFORT IN THE LOUNGE ROOM

FUN IN THE CHILDREN’S PLAYROOM

GREETINGS FROM THE WRITING NOOK

HEALING IN THE SUNROOM

MELODIES IN THE MUSIC ROOM

…CHRISTMAS SONGS

QUIET TIMES IN THE STUDY

REFLECTIONS BY THE POND

STROLLING THROUGH THE GARDEN

WISDOM IN THE LIBRARY

YESTERYEAR UNDER THE POET TREE

A Treasury of Verse For All Ages

Dedicated to my precious family …

Father Raymond, mother Lilian (Anne)(in memory), brother Miles (in memory), husband John, son Martin and daughters Sarah and Brittany and most importantly to my heavenly Father, without whom none of this would have been possible.

The title of this collection of children’s and inspirational poetry, song lyrics and more came about through the names of my childhood family.

Sweet memories of those who will never be forgotten.

Sunrays and Lily Smiles …

AROUND THE

KITCHEN

TABLE

A Day in the Life of a Teenager

Birthday Surprises

Childhood Memories of England

Counting His Gifts

Daddy Dearest

Daughter

For a Dear One Hurting

For You, Daddy

Granddaughter

I Have to Say Goodbye to My Daddy Today

In Memory of My Dear Brother, Miles

Inspired By a Child’s Love

Love in a Cup

Nature’s Song

Nothing to Share

Outside My Front Door

Season in Season

Take My Hand (A Wedding Poem)

The Carousel of Love (A Wedding Poem)

The Faith of a Child

There’s A Hidden Name in Every Thorn

Your Free Gift is Waiting

A Day In The Life Of A Teenager

The sun has a-risen

Stunning (hah!) clothes to wear

My hair needs a makeover

I collapse in the chair

The alarm’s still ringing

Shrilling in my head

An English exam today

Why can’t I stay in bed?

No one understands

What I have to go through

Day after day and always

A million things to do

Mum’s yelling out

And Dad’s on the move

Why can’t they chill out

And get with the groove?

Everyone fighting

For breakfast, lunch and space

What on earth is this all about

This need to beat the human race?

No! I don’t know what

I want to do when I grow up (some more)

I’m in a hurry, going to be late

So I’m running out the door

Why can’t they leave me alone

Teachers, parents, friends?

I’m sure I’m trying my hardest

Oh! Far out, I’ve forgotten my pens

And as for that old English test

The teachers all tell a different tale

But it never finds its way onto the test

I’m sure I’m going to fail

My shoelaces need a-tying

My shirt is all askew

My shorts have slipped beyond the knees

I’ll cry if I don’t laugh, so that is what I do!

And now there’s talk of war far off

As if there’s not enough at home

I feel so alone and lonely

I think I’ll run away and roam

I’m sure no-one will miss me

But I had better think again!

I passed a church on the way to school

Heard a distant voice – Help for pain

So I went inside the cool, dark church

I sat at a pew and listened

And the more the pastor spoke

The more my eyes cried and glistened

I found what I had been looking for

And I had definitely searched everywhere

It wasn’t on the television, or in the music store

It wasn’t in the mirror, or glossy magazine

It wasn’t in the pantry

Or in one of the shopping malls

I’d always chilled out there … And

I thought my friends would be all I wanted

How wrong could I possibly have been?

I nearly started smoking

Drugs were next on the list

No-one seemed to understand

But now I know

That I had indeed, been missed

Because the pastor explained to me

For everything, just look

Amongst all those foreign words

In God’s gift, the answer, His Book!

And now when things don’t go quite right

And family life feels stressed

I quietly try to redirect them all

So their minds do not get messed

Thank you, thank you, Mum and Dad

For making me walk to school

For if I’d caught that little, old bus

I would have turned out such a fool

Birthday Surprises

I thank You Lord

For this week at the

End of winter

That blossoms into spring

’Cause that’s the week

You blessed us

With three perfect gifts

Gifts from the heavenly King

Two arrived on the twenty-eighth

Two years later

One on Father’s Day eve

The first of the season

And one never realizes

How precious time is

At the time

And maybe that’s the reason

Why we’ve been given

Sweet memories

Of love and laughter

Mixed with tears

Please oh! please treasure

All parents, those who care

’Cause God’s priceless breaths of love

Forever show us He is near

Childhood Memories Of England

As I write this, I am all grown up

But they still remain with me

The memories of England

Even though I’m all grown up

White Christmas, holly and cousins

Presents and laughter

Seasons that change

And pocket money in tins

Sitting on Nana’s bed

So high in the air

Counting my fortune

Enough of that said

Snowdrops and daffodils

A baby lamb in my arms

Not soft like it looks

Squares of hay on the hills

Little thatched cottages

Rose gardens and rakes

Cobbled lanes

My life in different stages

But most of all

I remember the snow

The soft falling of snow

On our trees so tall

Snowmen and carrots

Mittens and gloves

Wellington boots

I miss them lots

But these are all memories

Hidden far away

And like a book

Can be opened

Day after day

Now I have my own children

And the present will be their memories

I hope they will be as special as mine are

Memories to draw on, when they’re women and men

But where I had snow

White Christmas and cold

I wonder what they will remember

And the places they will go

As long as they remember … Love

Because that’s what I feel

With my memories

My childhood memories … Love

A great big ship was looming in my future

That carried me across the seas

But my family was with me

So my memories stayed behind

Still … I brought them with me. A ten year old child

Counting His Gifts

Sweetly scented rose petals

Rainbows in waterfalls

Little sparrows chirping

Are His endless gifts to all

Cotton balls in the open fields

Grandma’s fudge and candy

Little robins gently hopping

Are His endless gifts to all

Misty fields a–clearing

Mountains topped with snow

Dolphins’ eyes a–twinkling

Are His endless gifts to all

Silken buttercups and bluebells

Sunlight filtered in the trees

The great striped tiger quietly stalking

Are His endless gifts to all

Perfume resting on our wrists

A kitten that has just been born

The sky so wildly exciting

Are His endless gifts to all

Leaves and grasses and lemons

Ants and honey and bees

Gemstones and stars and happiness (even tears)

Are His endless gifts to all

And He doesn’t need glitter, bows or fancy paper

To wrap His gifts for us

He has mixed them with His love and grace

He has given us one long, continual birthday

Because He offers His gifts to everyone

Always

Day after day after day

So, slow down. Witness all the glory

That can be seen, smelled, heard, tasted or touched

And realize that your life has been blessed

With endless gifts sent down with love

Daddy Dearest

D earest Daddy, this is for you

A nd all of my love, I give with it too!

D own in the garden, you’ve worked miracles

D oing what you love best, everything just flourishes

Y ou are so very, very talented and it wonderfully shows

D ays are so hard at times for you, I know

E verything here has its place; but your heart’s torn in two

A ll around you see things long gone by

R emembering joys and sorrows of another life you lived

E ven though you’re so very far from all that your heart desires

S tay here with us, you’re so loved and

T ogether we’ll talk and walk the memories of love so deep within

Daughter

What can be said of a daughter’s presence?

An extension of our very life

A gift from God, a heavenly present

Wrapped in beauty, soaked in love

An aching heart for a daughter’s happiness

Fulfilled beauty in life’s winding path

Wanting to be there always in readiness

To be there, to care and share and cry

Seeing our face reflected in her eyes

Holding onto dreams gone by

And flying away, soaring amongst distant skies

We longingly hold onto her loving smiles

Memories in our minds do linger

Page after page of laughter and pain

Teardrops fall as we surrender

Teardrops fall and there’s this emptiness still

Take our hands darling daughter and climb

To mountaintops arising through clouds and shine

Shine in the darkness, shine in light sublime

This connection of ours, forever to be and will be ours

Precious, sweet, beautiful, special …

For a Dear One Hurting

There is someone who loves you

Yes, someone whom I know

Who loves and protects you

Wherever you may go

Because somebody is praying

Who loves you so dearly

Please trust even though

Each day your heart is teary

Life is like a precious flower

Where joy is hidden when it’s dark

For deep within the petals

Beauty lies dormant when it’s dark

Oh! Allow the warming of the Son

To open up your heart

And like that flower closed so tightly

Unfold so beautifully, each part

For when the warmth of the Saviour

Enters very deep within, be healed

Revealed is softness, pureness, completeness

And the outside forms the shield

Yes, the blemishes of life

Still exist to our unopened eye

But when opened to the glorious Light

Are hidden from on high

Because our Saviour

All He sees, from heavenly places above

Is perfection and unparalleled beauty

In the heart filled with Jesus’ love

So take your thoughts, your tears, your plans

From off what is happening to you

And trust the Lord who knows all

To reveal what He has planned for you

For You, Daddy

Dearest Daddy Dearest

I will miss you so

I’m so sorry that you’re leaving

But I know you have to go

Dearest Daddy Dearest

I have loved the time we’ve shared

Our outings or our silence

Your eyes always showing you cared

Dearest Daddy Dearest

I pray you’ll find everything you feel you’ve lost

I love you dearly and always will

Even though it brings with it a cost

A cost for me of losing you

Sadness; but may your sadness be released

Your British days be full of warmth

And your heartstrings find their peace

Granddaughter

G ifted with a young woman’s love

So much to offer, as yet it’s hidden

R eceived by all in your family’s home

Waiting for a promise of hope

A round the base of the family tree

Scattered so perfectly, red, yellow, green

N earer the leaves fall, closer to the base

Caught in the wind, wandering a far

D ear to your loved ones, shaded from the heat

Lost, floating silently, without direction

D oing what seems right, right at the moment

Lost in the present, future uncertain

A lways drawing close to the base and then leaving

Oh! How we love you, your beauty unfolding

U nder the shelter of this tree, you are cared for

Fly home to where roses are golden, fragrance is perfect

G iving and forgiving, your life full of pardon

Please turn around dear granddaughter, fly home to protection

H elp will always be there and be given

We know that no-one is ultimately blameless

T ell us your story, we promise to listen

Things haven’t gone well; but there can always be healing

E verything and everyone is here for a reason

You’re young and all is a-waiting before you

R un into arms that are lost without you in them

We’re waiting and hoping in this you’ll find comfort

I Have to Say Goodbye to My Daddy Today

I have to say goodbye to my Daddy today

He leaves on the night-time train

Yes, I’m all grown up and yet

It still causes deep anguish and pain

Does this pre-emptiness also touch his heart

As child tears like an abandoned river flow?

’Tis early morning and the sun is hidden

And as my writing stalls … He’s preparing to go

He’s shared our lives for two blessed years

And how blessed they seem only now

Oh! How life is taken so shamefully, sadly for granted

As each tick of the clock to time bows

Seven summers, six winters, six autumns, seven springs

Ago; my mother, his wife, she did die

Five summers, four winters, four autumns, four springs

Ago; his son, my brother … To him we also had to say goodbye

And so, in painfulness, numbness, I try

To absorb what is truly happening

For in a few short hours, as the precious moments fleet past

At the railway station, lives will separate with departing

That’s it … My childhood family will be no more

With me in this great heartland

The vastness of ocean will separate us

My tears lessen the depth of sand

For as the droplets of deep, deep sorrow

Fall, and will fall enveloping each breath

My childhood sense of security

Once again is broken, as in death

The death of a loved one, as only you can love

So in love with, that eternity lights it with gold

I know I am mourning; but life, it wills on

’Tis but another story endless waves will carry, as of old

But today is today, it will go away

And I praise God, the Lord’s mercies are new

I don’t know what His mercies will lovingly bring this day

I love Him so dearly … Another memory captured through and through

I thank you dear Daddy, I thank you dear Father

Two wonders the Lord has gifted to my life

But still as my earthly love of father crosses distant lands

The thought of separation cuts my heart like a knife

… The clock, it steams forward

And I cannot stop it. Swallowing time, it marches forth

’Twill soon be that bittersweet moment – Say goodbye

A few smiles, bear hugs … For all love’s worth

As many read this, the train will have long gone

And my Daddy will be on his way

Back to his beloved earthly homeland

Where his longing thoughts did forever stray

My Dad, he needed to go back … Go back

To his childhood memories – England

Needed to feel the distant soil once more

Under his restless, battle-torn feet again

I feel like I’ve lost him; but I know it has pained him

Watching others living out his life’s dreams

Yes, it’s so hard to let go, when heartstrings do tug so

And childhood presents of mind past, drift away with the streams …

Praying for all who have lost loved ones

All who are losing loved ones

All who have had dreams shattered

All who need hope

Love, understanding, love

Heavenly Father

These last few hours I spend with Dad

Be glorified Lord

Hold our hearts in Your hands

Catch our tears

Hug us and never let us go

In Jesus Name

Amen

(a sweet update … My Daddy returned to us a few weeks later

… Thank you Lord … Nothing is impossible with God)

In Memory of My Dear Brother, Miles

As the day grows dimmer

My eyes start to wander

The sunset of life, it approaches

How beautiful breath is

How serene and how precious

This breath that was given me

How they all loved me

Spoke of my kindness

And how I would help all in need

Nothing too difficult

Ever passed by me

Without giving a well-shaken hand

I came from afar

And settled under the stars

Of a radiant country I loved

Met a wonderful lady

Had three precious children

And grandchildren on the way

I am no longer suffering

No more fighting or struggling

To beat this incurable disease

How blessed was I

To know and love you all

And blessed that you loved me

Inspired By a Child’s Love

Life it breathes

Fresh breath anew

Upon each golden

Day, so blue

And even though

This heart is blue

And shades of pain

Obscure the view

Of love beholden

Love shed forth

Love, so brilliantly

From stars of north

Freshness, green sprouts

New growth sings praise

And creatures lift heads

Of dawn’s dusk pictorial

Sunset in sunrise

Crimson petals, azure fragrance

Alive in His eyes

The colours of royalty

Sublime grace, I’m in awe

And what prompted this poem … Has

This heart’s ache, love-filled to the core

Love in a Cup

Silvery linings cast shadows divine

On pure white mountaintops, where the sun doth shine

Little silver dewdrops falling on time

Coating the snow with treasures of mine

Earthly colours surround base and above

And coat our dreams in the softness of love

Delicately baked in the fierceness of trial

Made perfect in ovens of non-burning fire

Oh! How sweet to the taste

More beautiful to the sight

Little cupcakes risen and raised in delight

Given to gift those lost in His sight

Nature’s Song

Slowly as the daybreak loosens

Letting glory rays of sunlight in

Nature’s song, it’s released and given

Breaks the silence of darkness din

Lively birds their chords bring sweet notes

Darting in amongst the trees

Leaving joy and comfort with each flitter

Leaving fragrance on the breeze

With each flower reflecting love’s beauty

Scents are lifted amidst nature’s twill

A beautiful scene of love and blessing

Perched upon life’s window sill

Nothing to Share

A letter arrives

And invites me to tea

"Bring memories, a plate

A basket to share"

I look all around

I have nothing to share

My cupboard is empty

I have nothing to give

My basket is empty

My cupboard is bare

I feel very full though

With nothing to share!

But

I will fill that basket

And visit my friend

So I start to unload

This fullness within

In goes the grief

Followed closely by pain

The tears and the sickness

I’m hollow again

I had nothing to share

But my basket is full

My Friend is my friend though

And He does not care

I empty my basket

Lay things on the floor

And He gladly exchanges them

For mercy and more

And

The more I give Him

He doubles it up

Everything He places

In that basket of love

My heavy burdened basket

I have emptied, He has filled

As only He can fill it

I came to Him, He did the rest

Filled to completion

Nothing is wanting

I had nothing to share

Nothing to share

Just this life of despair

Once full but empty

Now empty but full

Outside My Front Door

Oh! What a glorious sight to behold

Glimpses of treasures not seen and untold

A black sea of cockatoos outside my front door

Singing their praises to