I have looked at my father's life and created some mono-prints and woodcuts. Let me know what you think. When I read it to my partner she went, "Oh, it is great, but so dark". So, here it goes.
The
Life that could have been
Hungary in the late 1920’s, twins are
born.
The father, a loyal country man, the mother
not well,
something to do with the heart and the lung.
There was one more brother, however, he
died.
Also his mother and his twin brother died -
He was alone with his father.
His father took another wife, and the twin became
one of many -twelve half-brothers and sisters.
The Second World War broke out,
the
twin was too young to take part in the fighting,
he
had his own war to fight;
his father defended their home country.
Defeated ,they were deported from Hungary to
Germany.
The twin was a young man by now, what is in
his future?
What kind of life can he expect, having
experienced the amount of lose he had felt?
Striving toward security;
he needed possessions -
identified himself through his possessions.
He was a sensitive young man,
but was there place in his life for this
sensitivity.
Hurt by life,
abandoned by his mother,
not
protected by his father –
while feeling alone within the crowed of
his half-brothers and half-sisters.
What could have been?
A
twin celebrating his sensitivity, trusting in life and the goodness of people.
Creating meaningful relationships with his
children, friends, and half-sisters and brothers.
Understanding that possessions are not what a
person is remembered by.
Taking life by its handkerchief and
swirling it flamboyantly around,
but
how could he?
With
his heart filled with sadness and not understanding.
Now, he is living his life out with a
diagnosis of Dementia,
remembering his early years with tears in his
eyes.
How hard life can be.
