She’s Always a Woman To Me - BillyJoel

Miss Understood? 

I have had several boyfriends, who independently said that the same song always reminds them of me. It's very interesting, if slightly disturbing, to read something that reflects how you come across. I hope to show it to the man I end up with and see if he sees the tough/ cold/ feisty woman described here.

She’s Always a Woman To Me

Billy Joel

She can kill with a smile

She can wound with her eyes

She can ruin your faith with her casual lies

And she only reveals what she wants you to see

She hides like a child,

But she's always a woman to me

She can lead you to love

She can take you or leave you

She can ask for the truth

But she'll never believe you

And she'll take what you give her, as long as it's free

Yeah, she steals like a thief

But she's always a woman to me

CHORUS:

Oh--she takes care of herself

She can wait if she wants

She's ahead of her time

Oh--and she never gives out

And she never gives in

She just changes her mind

And she'll promise you more

Than the Garden of Eden

Then she'll carelessly cut you

And laugh while you're bleeding

But she'll bring out the best

And the worst you can be

Blame it all on yourself

Cause she's always a woman to me

She is frequently kind

And she's suddenly cruel

She can do as she pleases

She's nobody's fool

And she can't be convicted

She's earned her degree

And the most she will do

Is throw shadows at you

But she's always a woman to me

Motherhood: the best of times, the worst of times...

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair..."

Charles Dickens

For Mother's Day, I wanted to write something about successful techniques on being a good parent, so I asked some of my female friends and family their thoughts about being a Mum. After hearing what they have said, I am just left struggling to find the right words that reflect the profound respect and admiration I have for all these women. I thought the above quote summed up what they said!

They are all women who think they are “muddling along” in “ordinary lives”, but they are in truth, extraordinary people. Women who don’t appreciate that each and every time they have cared for, encouraged, supported, listened, disciplined and helped their child, they have done an incredibly wonderful thing. Women whose lives are filled with countless selfless acts of kindness, as they shop, tidy up, clean after, cook, read, wash, drive for their children. Women who are often also trying to be good: wives, friends, sisters, daughters and colleagues too.

Poem about having the courage to love

Touched by an Angel

Maya Angelou

We, unaccustomed to courage

exiles from delight

live coiled in shells of loneliness

until love leaves its high holy temple

and comes into our sight

to liberate us into life.

Love arrives

and in its train come ecstasies

old memories of pleasure

ancient histories of pain.

Yet if we are bold,

love strikes away the chains of fear

from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity

In the flush of love's light

we dare be brave

And suddenly we see

that love costs all we are

and will ever be.

Yet it is only love

which sets us free.

This poem says so much to me: love is the ultimate antidote or therapy. When love enters our lives, painful memories may re-emerge, but if we dare to "be brave" enough to shake away the fear then love is worth the risk. We must allow love to “liberate us into life” and not let “chains of fear” only hold us back.

Poem about separation

Separation

W. S. Merwin

Your absence has gone through me

Like thread through a needle.

Everything I do is stitched with its colour.

 

 

 

The simplicity of this poem is what makes it so beautiful. Describes so effectively that feeling when you lose someone, and how, at the start, that taints every moment and every action.

Poem about unfulfilled dreams

Dream Deferred 

by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

Like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore--

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over--

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

I love this poem, a warning that a dream ignored or not realised leads internal emptiness, sadness and even uncontrolled anger. However, Hughes wrote this is the 1950s and probably intended for the poem to focus on the oppression of dreams of African Americans at that time.