| "Mr. Weaver, I feel from your writings that you have a deep, abiding love for the wonderful people of West Virginia. I have the same love as they molded me into the person I am today. That love has never diminished even though I have had to live in the southern sand for so many years. It was those mountain people who molded me into the person I am today. I wrote a simple poem years ago to honor my heritage and my grandparents. I thought you might like to read it."
- Juantia Morris Hawkins, DeBary FL, November 2004
MY MOUNTAIN FAMILY
My mind seems to drift more and more
Back to the home that sat upon hallowed soil
Where I grew into a young girl full of dreams
Watching my family strive in life and toil.
As a child I didn't realize how hard life was for them
Children are so innocent of hardships and pain
I felt I was living the best of times and felt secure
I was blessed with love given without thought of gain.
It is what I have always imagined heaven must be some day
Living within a sense of perfect peace and security of heart
What a gift they gave to a little girl who wishes she could say.
In those years we spent together you always made me feel special
That twinkling glint of merriment in those flashing Irish eyes
My grandfather was to me happiness clad in overalls and sweat
The rides upon his shoulders as he ran down hillsides and my cries.
Of joy and thrills and the sense that I rode upon a giant
Accepting every word as gospel as he spoke to me
I loved him with every fiber of my being and yet he left so soon
Torn from my life in twisted metal, why, I could not see.
My life nor my grandmother's was ever the same again
Our strength and our security was lying on the hill above
His head facing toward the east among his forefathers
A part of me died that day, the day I lost my grandfather's love.
Now as I remember back over so many years of change
I know that I lived in my own Garden of Eden and knew
My life would never the same and I would have to leave
They are all gone now and the soil is all that's left of those beloved few.
Who shaped my life and taught me lessons that have been a part
Of all I am and all I do and I will never forget what each one gave
The world would call them simple people and take no notice
Yet, I know they were giants and were the bravest of the brave.
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