Poetry By: Terri Lyn Stanfield
{Suspended In Time} {The Beginning} {Settling In} {Live for Today} {The World Stood Still}
{Music of the Heart} {Walking on Air} {Life and Death} {Precious Moments}
{Fighting the Good Fight} {Flying Fortress} { the Longest Day} {Forever in Love}
{ Back to Terri Lyn Sanfield's Poetry Page
}
She lives in the past, in her own little world
Untouched by concerns of the present
Her skin is wrinkled, her hair is gray
But that's not the reflection she sees in the mirror
She sees a woman, still young and beautiful
Unchanged by the passage of time
Suspended forever in a long lost era
She dances to music that only she hears
And with a partner that only she sees
None know what happened to freeze her in time
And she's not likely ever to tell
So she lives her days lost in her fantasies
Content in a way few of us ever are
Forever held in the arms of her love
As they dance the time away
12/8/2000
The Beginning
Suspended In Time, Part 2
The year was 1943, and emotions ran high
Ever able bodied American was signing up
Only too eager to defend our country
Men and women alike, ready to do our duty
I was no different and I signed up as a WAC
People were just getting used to the idea of women in the military
There were still a lot of them completely against it
Including my family
But I was 23, with a mind of my own
And a yearning for adventure
If only I'd known then how everything would turn out
Would my actions have been different
Would I have stayed home and escaped all the pain
On no, for I would have missed all the joy
And the love
And so this is the beginning of my story
Bittersweet, poignant, and oh so dear to my heart
12/8/2000
Settling In
Suspended In Time, Part 3
It was the end of September, 1943
I had just completed my first overseas flight
That, an adventure in itself
And now here I was in London with my company
We were stationed at the Supreme Headquarters
And we'd be working as part of the Allied Expeditionary Force
Great plans were underway
And even though I was just a typist
I took great pride in being a part of it
I wrote home to my family regularly
Telling them everything that wasa happening to me, to us
How we were actually making history everyday
How we were living it
Telling them about London
None of them had ever even been out of our home town
But they weren't interested in anything I had to say
They all wrote back the same thing
"War's no place for a decent woman. Come home."
As if I could, as if I would
For the first time in my life I felt alive
Really alive, and part of something
That wild place inside of me was finally getting fed
And its' appetite was voracious
12/10/2000
Live For Today
Suspended In Time, Part 4
We've only been here a few weeks
And some of the rules have taken a little getting used
to
But we're adjusting
There's a really great club just off base
The music's terrific, and their dance floor's something
else
I've danced with so many soldiers I've lost count
I am having such a great time
We dance the night away
Then go our separate ways
No promises, no committments, no ties
And I like it that way
I don't want to be tied down to any one man
It's so much more fun to play the field
Of course, my family would be horrified
But what they don't know can't hurt me
Right?
Anyway, we're at war
There's no guarantee for tomorrow
So I intend to live for today
12/12/2000
The World Stood Still
Suspended In Time, Part 5
This was just to be another night out dancing
There was no special feeling in the air
No premonition of coming destiny
I'd been at the club for an hour or so
Danced with a dozen or more soldiers
I was sitting at a table, taking a breather
And suddenly my eyes were drawn to the door
As if by a magnet
And when I turned to look
My eyes locked with his
And the world stood still
I rose, and started walking towards him
And he met me half way
When he took me in his arms, I never wanted to leave
So I didn't
We danced, the two of us, until closing time
And agreed to meet again the following night
And so it was every night from then on
12/12/2000
Music Of The Heart
Suspended In Time, Part 6
Any thoughts I'd had of playing the field disappeared
I lived only to be with him
We never missed a night dancing
We would spend hours in each other's arms
Gently moving in time with the music
Or sometimes moving in time with our hearts
Listening to music no one else could hear
We learned all there was to know of each other
He was in the Army Air Corps, a pilot
This was his first time away from home, too
Of course, his family was proud of him
While mine still berated me
We fell deeper and deeper in love with each passing day
And we were both filled with wonder
That such a magical thing should happen to us
When he would leave on a mission
I would hold my breath until his return
But return, he always did
12/13/2000
Walking On Air
Suspended In Time, Part 7
It was February, 1944, and I'd never been happier
I was so much in love my feet never touched the ground
I loved my work
And although my family still didn't approve
They were resigned to the fact that I wasn't coming home
I should have been fearful of the fates
Seldom do they allow such happiness
But I was young and foolish
It started out the same as any other day
I was hard at work when I heard it
At first, I didn't know what it was
And when I recognized the sound
I refused to accept it
Til the world around me exploded
12/13/2000
Life And Death
Suspended In Time, Part 8
I woke up in the infirmary with the explosion still
ringing inside my head
Three days had passed
But the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was him
Concussion, he said
It would be a few days til everything came back into
focus
But I would be just fine
As if I would ever be "just fine" again
Had we really been bombed?
It seems so fantastic
But we are at war
Friends of mine are dead
Parts of the base destroyed
And yet here I am, alive, and for the most part, well
We'd talked about the possibility that he could get hurt
But it was me in the hospital bed
And suddenly it all became real to me
This wasn't just some grand adventure
This was life and death
12/13/2000
Precious Moments
Suspended In Time, Part 9
Things were back to normal
At least as much as possible
Though the bombing, and the frailty of life, was never
far from my mind
Or his
We still danced every night
Though we held each other just a little tighter than
before
Every moment we were together was truly precious
And we stole every opportunity to be together
But never again would I be completely carefree
There was always that niggling fear at the edge of my
consciousness
One of us could die
And then, how could the other possibly go on
12/13/2000
Fighting The Good Fight
Suspended In Time, Part 10
A few months had gone by
And I began to breathe a little easier
There were more bombings
But we weren't taken by surprise again
To say we were accustomed to them would be a bit of an exaggeration
I don't think anyone could ever truly get used to that
But we were aware of the possibility
And we knew how to react
His missions grew more and more dangerous
As we infiltrated deeper into enemy territory
He acquired a chest full of medals
And a reputation as being bullet proof
He said my love kept him safe from harm
I prayed constantly that it was so
12/13/2000
The Flying Fortress
Suspended In Time, Part 11
Our boys had just switched to flying the B17's
A huge plane called The Flying Fortress
Supposedly much safer than the B24's they had been flying
The B17's didn't have quite as much speed as the B24's
But they would be a lot harder to shoot down
And that sounded like a mighty fine thing to me
He got his orders for his next mission
It would be his first in a B17
He was filled with excitement
Told me not to worry
After all, this time he would be in The Flying Fortress
So I tried to calm my usual fears
Surely he would be safe in such a behemoth
12/13/2000
The Longest Day
Suspended In Time, Part 12
September 12, 1944; the longest day of my life
He left in the wee hours of the morning
Of course, he couldn't tell me where he was going
But I knew it was dangerous
It always was
The hours crawled by, and the day passed agonizingly slowly
As the moon rose higher in the evening sky
The returned
I thanked God for bringing him back to me
One more time
But I waited, and waited, and there was no word from him
He always called me as soon as he could
Still I waited until the dawn
Finally, there's a knock on my door
I run to it and throw it open
But it's not him standing there
It's a friend of his, of ours
I can see the news on his face
And then come the words
Burst into flames
Exploded
Everything was in slow motion
And his words became fainter, and fainter
Then everything went black
12/13/2000
Forever In Love
Suspended In Time, Part 13
Conclusion
And so, you have my story
When I woke up that morning
I decided I couldn't live in a world without him
So I stayed in our world
The one where we held each other close
And danced the night away
Of course, my family just shook their heads
What else could be expected
War was no place for a woman!
My feeble mind, and my feeble heart just couldn't take it
But they never did understand me
Neither my mind, nor my heart is feeble
They are young and strong and true
And forever lost in love with the man of my dreams
12/13/2000