Category: In Death

Hamada’s Tree in Rhode Island

“Hamada’s  Special Ray Of Light” here in the Village.

When I first started writing my “Poems of Love”  for Hamada I was amazed at the many who also seem to enjoy them and understood my reason for keeping a diary of these difficult days. One of the very first comments I ever received was from a wonderful gentleman Lt (now Captain) Michael Morse of Providence, Rhode Island.  Michael  as an Emergency Medical Technician in Providence, works in a team of very brave men and woman all willingly risking there lives every day, to help and save the community of Providence, dealing with drug overdoses, gunshot wounds, suicides and all manner of  medical emergencies that are all in a days work for them. These are extremely brave and courageous people working continuously in often very difficult conditions.

Five years ago in the early hours of  the morning, Michael was surfing the net and came across my little blog written here in this tiny village in the UK. During a quiet moment and a lull in calls he settled down to  read some of my poems. They seem to appeal to him, he wrote  on his blog and I quote:

“Susie’s poems hit home in so many ways. Heroes are all around us, fighting life and death battles, facing the fear of uncertainty yet still able to inspire others during the darkest days of their lives. People previously unknown to me and living on another continent are fighting with amazing grace, dignity and courage” and so this started the many comments and sincere praise that he often sent my way. He pointed out that he has never been very interested in poetry but mine tugged at his heart and he found himself becoming more interested in the story behind them.

Michael is a most compassionate man – he would not be doing the job he does tirelessly every day  if this was not so. He is a wonderful writer, logging as he does the daily problems and trials and tribulations of the work he does as a EMS/Fire-fighter on his wonderful blog www.rescuingprovidence.com    Michael’s comments encouraged me to continue writing the updates and poems that made Hamada’s Blog “A Power Within” http://www.susiehemingway.blogspot.com  the success it became.

So Michael followed Hamada’s blog and online through his comments, Michael and Hamada became good friends, a connection you could say.  Michael’s  very popular book “Rescuing Providence” was sent, read and enjoyed very much by Hamada. I would pass-on all the comments Michael wrote under my poems – somehow, someway, Michael gave Hamada more courage.

Continuing another extract shown here from Michaels blog, explains well this connection:

“One night, as I sat at my desk in a little office in a  fire station in a small city in the US, I opened my window to the world known as the Internet, and moved the little mouse over something called “Verve Earth”, and randomly zig-zagged  across the map of the world, wondering where I might stop. When I was a kid I used to go to the  globe, which for those who never saw one is a three dimensional orb which replicates Planet Earth, mounted on a holder of sorts that allows the earth to spin. I’d give it a good push, and lightly place my finger on the surface as it spun, and wherever it stopped, that’s  where I decided I would go. This night, it stopped in England, “in a beautiful village nestling by the river Bain in the heart of the Lincolnshire Wolds.”  There, I was introduced to Susie and Hamada, a happily married couple, living gracefully through the curse of Multiple Myeloma.  Through Susie’s poems I was allowed entry into the most astonishing love story ever written. The simple complexity of her words, full of pain but able to articulate enduring hope travelled an ocean, and opened a part of my heart that had been closed since 1990, when my father battled cancer and lost. The profound sadness I felt when I heard the news that Hamada had died literally crippled me. I never spoke to Hamada, nor heard him speak. I only knew him through the words his wife used to describe their life together, and his courage and dignity during his last few years. Yet I knew him. And I’m a better person because of it. I imagine Hamada will be laid to rest, “in this beautiful village nestling by the river Bain in the heart of the Lincolnshire Wolds.”  I imagine his friends and family will join the solemn occasion, and pay their respects, and mourn his loss. But here in my little place, back in my little office, watching the world through my window the sadness I felt has been replaced, and in its place something greater and timeless resides, and I have Susie and Hamada to thank, for without them, I would not have experienced “The Power Within”

Michael of the Giant Heart read my poems and never fail to send a comment or a good wish our way and as you have read, very saddened when Hamada’s journey came to an end. Now to the special  story of  “The Tree and The Hawk”

On the day we laid Hamada to rest  in this little country village in Middle England– this freezing cold Winters day when the ground was thick with snow and ice – and many had come to pay their respects to our  beloved warrior, at  approximately the same time on the other side of the  world, a very kind  and compassionate man was taking his regular walk  and passing a large old tree near to his home he watched a huge hawk flitting above him in the branches. As he approached this tree, the hawk suddenly stayed very still and appeared to look down at him. The hawk stayed this way for sometime, causing the man beneath to feel something most spiritual.  This man was Michael who was so move by this experience he felt the need to say his own goodbyes to Hamada.

Then once again on another day as Michael walked his usual route, at the very same spot he had said  goodbye to Hamada  he looked up, and the giant hawk again landed on a branch about thirty feet above him, in this old  tree. A flock of mockingbirds descended upon him, dive bombing and pestering him, but the bird refuse to move ( much like Hamada with his courage) and just sat there, and again  they looked at each other for nearly five minutes, again the spiritual feeling.

How I love this,another connection made. Hawks remind me of the wonderful Falcons of the desert and Hamada loved to watch them when we lived in the United Arab Emirates. Yes, a hawk is most suitable for my Hamada who just  may have been paying his respects to this kind and compassionate man who befriended him  during the many months of  his courageous fight with the wretched illness that is Multiple Myeloma. Two good men making a connection through this modern world of ours. Miles apart, never having met, never having spoken, but a connection for sure.   Thanks Mike.

All Rights Reserved: 2011

“Ray of Light Photo” Courtesy of Janey Johnson Photos.