Madeline Bedal: poems

A LIFETIME OF TREASURE

Why am I here?

It was not a choice of my own

The last thing I knew

I was being released from the hospital.

On arriving home, all my things were packed

and I was on my way to Fremont, California,

to the Country Inn where I am now

Everything was planned for me

I didn’t know what I was in for

We had garage sales

I watched everything walk away.

My life disappeared before my eyes.

What little was sold didn’t amount to much.

The rain came down, it didn’t amount to much.

When it was time to close

I rolled up the tables full of a lifetime of treasure.

There were organizations aplenty waiting

church people, group people and people people 

all waiting to reap the spoils of my history,

of my life.

Madeline Bedal

DREAMS

I’ve dreams that come true, 

places I’ve been, places I’ve gone.

I’ve found myself in these same places 

and things happen just like in the dream. 

I take them as signs. Good signs.

I’ve never had dreams of not going somewhere 

or of premonitions. 

My dreams are pleasant, of beautiful places. 

A real dream actually came true.

I was awake, I was there, just like in the dream.

I would see a place traveling or in some park.

But I’d never been to htat place. 

The dream was so real, 

it was just as if I was there in reality,

and reality was just like in my dream.

Once I dreamt of a bear coming from Fielding to Whitefish.

It came over the mountains.

It came down the mountain.

It came straight for my bedroom window.

It was years later, when I was in college,

and this bear came down the mountain

and crawled up into the tree by my bedroom window.

We called the authorities to take it away.

I’m a dreamer, a dreamer dreaming the dream. 

The luck follows me. A dream come true.

Madeline Bedal

MADELINE

My mother named me Madeline 

because she didn’t like nicknames.

She searched and searched,

she went through names and more names

asking everyone questions:

what should I name my baby?

She and my Aunt Gertie were having a cup of tea

Well, my aunt wanted to help my mother, 

she saw it in a magazine and liked it, 

and so I was named Madeline.

Everything went fine until I went to school.

One day my mother was shopping with me.

A girl from school shouted. “Hey Mad!”

When my mother heard that,

boy, was she ever mad!

I was never called Mad after that

All my life I’ve been called Madeline.

Madeline Bedal

GOIN FISHIN

My brother, who was older than I,

got to go fishing with our uncle.

I wanted to go fishing too.

But I always had to stay at home.

One special morning it was my turn 

to go fishing with my brother.

I’d been waiting a long time. I was so excited.

Off we took early one morning

to Stannard Creek—it was named after my father.

There was a bend in the stream with a log over it. 

My brother took a willow branch, 

tied strong packing string on it, 

he took a straight pin, bent it almost double

and put a worm on the end of it.

I sat on a log, quiet and peaceful,

my line, with my worm wiggling in the water...

All of a sudden there was a yank,

I screamed, “I caught a fish!” And I fell into the water.

My brother came running, he pulled on the pole

and on the other end was a frog

And that was the end of my fishing days.

Madeline Bedal

SWIM LITTLE FISHIES!

When my grandfather went fishing, 

he never killed the fish.

He’d bring them home live

and give them to my sisters.

They’d put them in the bathtub,

fill it with water.

They’d pat them as if they were pets

and say,  “Swim little fishies, swim!”

Madeline Bedal

HUNTING LODGE

When we lived on the homestead in Fielding, Montana,

my father would take people from back east

on hunting trips in the wintertime

In a photo, I remember visitors from New York—

they were all lawyers and doctors—

I remember they had pictures taken of their hunting trip

I got to observe them setting it all up.

The animals they shot were hung on the fence.

He’d gather them all up together for a photo.

We had a log fence, we’d throw saddles on it and sit on them. 

He took the animal rugs from the livingroom  and the hides,

hung them over a stump some bushes 

to make them look real, like live animals.

They all got their guns out—you had to have a gun in those days—

and dressed themselves up in their hunting outfits and boots 

and alldraped with our living room rugs...

it made for an authentic looking background of their hunting trip.

They used a big old-fashioned black box on stilts.

The photographer covered up his head with a cloth

and he’d look out these two holes...

In one hand he held a tray trough filled with white powder

which made a flash of light when it was lit.

It was all such a mystery to me.

They took the camera with them back to New York

and used to phiotographs for advertisements for future trips.

Those pictures were in an album for years

but my brother was leaving home, so they went with him...

I would love to have some of those photos now

Madeline Bedal

FOUNDLING

I’ve been grateful for and thankful for my friends.

I worked with children for many years.

I even worked in Sunday School.

I’ve always had good friends.

I’ve traveled from place to place

And no matter where I went 

I always had good Christian friends—

especially the children.

I survived four operations.

Their thoughts and prayers brought me through.

Friends, they hold together—

regardless of circumstances.

I worked with the women of the church too.

They also brought me through.

The Lord searched me out and he found me—

or, I found him, working with the children.

It was my calling. I did find Him

and I found my place all the way through.

He found me when I was 7 years old

I needed someone,

I needed a friend—

we’d left the homestead

for Whitefish, Montana—I was lonely.

I couldn’t have been more lonely 

if I was all alone in the world.

He was my friend all through school 

and I found my other friends through Him.

Madeline Bedal

HAPPINESS POINT

Happiness was one of my wishes 

all through life. I never had to have very much 

when I was small—it might be a rock 

or a flower or even a butterfly to be happy.

I always loved flowers .

We always had a bouquet on the table

We’d pick wild roses 

but the petals fell off so easily.

We’d take the petals to make perfume sachets.

We’d let them sit in the sun for a while, 

or we just laid them on the porch, or on a stone

so the sun would get to them.

Then we’d crush the roses, we’d put them in a jar

and then we’d carry them around with us.

We’d take a nail, punch holes in the top of the lid

and we’d sniff them all day long.

We’d make our rounds, six of us girls

with our jars of roses, this was our happiness.

This made us comfortable to smell the roses.

We’d put them in among our clothes.

We really loved the roses, so beautiful.

Happiness every day as we skipped 

down the road with our jars of roses.

Madeline Bedal

A REAL CALIFORNIAN

When I was 18

it was the year of the Great Depression

I worked as most people did

in the sewing rooms

I made pants and coats,

making clothes for everyone

when I was 21

When I was 25

I met my husband in Glacier Park

We looked int each other’s eyes,

we just couldn't say goodbye

so we got married instead

when I was 25

We moved to California

and I was a new bride

when I was 25

When I was 35

my three daughters and I

we made our home in Campbell, California

We bought an orchard

we picked apricots and prunes

I was finally a Californian

when I was 35

Now the years have passed

The children have all grown

married with families 

and children of their own

We sold the prune orchard

we built on Bedal Drive

and moved to Lake Tahoe

my husband and I, 

he retired

when I was 55.

Madeline Bedal

We could sing patriotic songs

and sing religious songs

we could sing songs of joy and happiness

we could sing songs of love and home

or songs of the blues

We could sing Stormy Weather, 

or Summertime or 

if we were feeling patriotic

we could sing God Bless America 

Or America the Beautiful 

for all the lives that are lost in war

Sing your song all day long

Sing your song

The songs I love best

are straight from the heart

So sing your song all day long

sing your song

sing your song

Madeline Bedal

What the world needs now is love

I would like to see more love in the world

I’d  start with myself, I’d show my love for others

And maybe they’d show their love for all of us

I never make New Year’s promises 

because I always break ‘em

I would like to see more love in the world

I’d  start with myself, I’d show my love for others

And maybe they’d show their love for all of us  

DARLENE

It was early springtime

It was early in the morning

The sun was shining

Trees were blowing in the breeze

It was a lovely day

When my father came in from the barn,

he announced that Bessie was ready.

We didn’t have any shoes or stockings on.

We ran to the barn to see what was going on.

Bessie had a twinkle in her eye.

Quite nervous she was, pacing back and forth.

She was usually so calm and contented.

We all gathered round her.

Mother went to Bessie’s head 

and told her to be quiet.

Everything would be all right.

Bessie said Moo! And there was Darlene 

in my father’s arms.