Julia George's treasure, THE LEGACY OF A SINGULAR LIFE, is a striking collection of the poetry and words of Hazel Almeda Boulton, and a narration of the final months of this fascinating woman's life. Every time I open it I find a gem (or two, or three) that touches my heart. I should have purchased two copies. The pages of this one will soon be worn with repeated turnings.Julia is a member of the Poetry Society of Michigan and past president of The Writers, a group with whom Almeda met at the Norton Shores Library in West Michigan for over 70 years. Julia cared for Almeda in the final days of her life as she slipped into the fog of macular degeneration and dementia.
_________________
The Approach
by Almeda Boulton
A dimming of the light
A darkening in the sky
A thickening of the clouds,
A graying among the trees
Like an emerging fog
Yet not a fog
But fine blowing snow
Part of a surging blizzard
Surrounding, enveloping,
Chilling
________________________
Almeda Boulton was a teacher, naturalist, world traveler and respected genealogist. She passed away October 15, 2005 at the age of 96. In the wake of her death, Julia discovered hundreds of poems that Miss Boulton had never shared with anyone, not even her friends within The Writers and Poetry Society. It was her wish that a difinitive collection of her poetry would be published one day. This book is certainly more than she could have imagined. It contains not only her vast collection of poetry, but several essays and extracts from a diary. Almeda was an intelligent, independent and private woman whose life shines through these pages like a fresh cut diamond.
______________________________________________
Beyond Thule
Deep
The black men delve.
They seek the blue earth
In which alone
The diamonds lie
Encased in satin skin.
Though each is found without facet
The skillful cutters
Know just how to lure the light
To flash from plane to plane
And here and there escape in brilliant flame.
Long years ago did carbon trap the sun,
Or Vulcan at his forge strike sparks
That cooling held their light
Till eons hence
There bursts this blue-white fire
As fierce as distant star
And cold as space.
We crave to probe its mystery,
Such beauty
Is so far beyond our reach,
It is the ultimate
We seek to know.
Almeda Boulton
1970's
______________________________________________________________________________
To the Reader
If I can, by some turn or phrase,
Cause you to view another's world,
And for a time to dwell therein;
To see, though for a moment fleet,
Some vista that is foreign to your ken;
To take you out from your own self--
As real a change as slumber in a dream does bring,
Then there is magic in my pen.
Almeda Boulton
January, 1957