Tattered Tapestry: Poetry of Life, Death and Living

By Edward Schwartz

Tattered Tapestry is the third and last book in the Tapestry series.

The poetry in this book is somewhat different in that it is trying to show how caretakers are generally taken for granted and how much we owe them.

The poems are in a chronological order as I have written them. From an understanding of dementia to her accident leading to her death on April 8, 2020. I hope some of these poems will help lead others out of grief and into the land of the living.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781664129924

Edward Schwartz

In this, his second book, Tapestry Two - older, bolder and better, Ed Schwartz brings his wife, Joan, fully into his new book with thirty seven of her own poems in a section all her own. Joan started writing with the tragedy of her daughter’s death from breast cancer at the age of thirty-eight. She wrote for less then two years but in that time turned out some beautiful poetry about life,death, love and children. She hopes that when you read these poems it will help in your mourning. Or simply remembering the good things and the way we must all go on to honor the memory of our loved ones. Ed and Joan live in the lovely condo community called Lake Barrington Shores just 35 miles northwest of Chicago.

Book preview

Copyright © 2020 by Edward Schwartz.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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.

Cover photography by Patricia Durack

Rev. date: 09/17/2020

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

814249

Contents

Dedication

The Caretakers

I Do Not Want To Die

Dear Ed

Dream Girl

God’s Thief

Slip Away

Thanks, Mom

They’re Gone

Love Just Fades Away

A Kiss In Winter

In The Eye Of The Beholder

Dust To Dust

The Last Romantics

Beginning of the End

The Beginning of the End (2)

Together Forever

The End or the Beginning

Silence of Time

Mountain Top

Please Let Me Go

Mist

Goodbye for Now

Light and Dark

From Joan to Ed

So Begins the Lonely Nights

Yes, I Love You Too

Tattered Tapestry

Swiftly

Lost Love

A Silver Leaf

You Gave to Me

In this Silence

Sonnets

Beyond Loss

Reincarnate

I Grieve

A Poet’s Death

A Walk

Eternity

Everyday Things

A Toast to the New Year

Memories

Poetry by Joan

Time Will Heal

A Love as Old as Time

A Sabbath Prayer

God’s Plan for Man

My Heart

To My Husband

To My Mother

Life’s Journey

A Parent’s Wish

To a Son Estranged

The Face in the Mirror

A Daughter’s Goodbye (to Her Mother) at 102 Years

Stop Complaining

Don’t Give Up

The Sweetness of Prayer

My Love

Nourishment

With Pen in Hand

The Meaning of Life

Bashert (Meant to Be)

Fly, My Daughter

Work in Progress

Children of War

Deborah’s Prayer to her children

Two Souls

A Mourner’s Prayer

Walk Tall

One Needs Love

Saying Goodbye

Teach Them Well

We Will Never Forget

Reflections during Mourning

Food for the Soul

My Aching Heart

What Life Teaches

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my wife Joan, and our marriage of sixty years. She left this earth on April 8, 2020. My one and only love. I loved you then, I love you now and I always will.

Also to my son Howard who should remember that I loved him from the very first day.

I can’t forget my grandchildren, Menachem, Yossi, Shaindel and her sons Mendel and Yakov. These guys keep up my electronics, keep me company and show me every day that there is a future and that they will grow up loving this great country we live in. They will love and remember their mother Devorah Doba Leah and their Bubbe Joan.

Last, but not least, all the great neighbors, friends and wonderful people of Lake Barrington Shores who kept me up when I was down. Thank you.

Ed Schwartz

The Caretakers

I am writing this third book in the Tapestry series and calling it Tattered Tapestry because my wife of sixty years passed on April 8, 2020.

This series of books was her doing and I might never have published if she hadn’t insisted on it. Joan was a poet in her own right but unfortunately stopped writing a year after our daughter’s death. Her poems were published