Dancing With Angels - by Susan Giles

Voice.club
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https://Voice.club - He dances with abandon under the trees, ignoring all the activity around him. The fall sun shines with just enough radiance that no coat is necessary, but it doesn’t matter. Delight and wonderment keep him warm.

Joanne glances out the window at her son, Jacob. She has always worried about him, just as every mother worries about her children, so to see his obvious happiness thrills her heart.

Jacob was born after a prolonged labor. Joanne remembered hearing the doctor’s urgent voice, “The baby’s face is blue! Cut the cord immediately!” Hearing the doctor say the APGAR score was sufficient, Joanne knew there was nothing to worry about. Jacob walked early at 8 months, developed as he should in every area except one: he would not talk.

He smiled each time he saw his parents’ faces, a smile which filled the room with happiness and awe. It was obvious that Jacob could hear; he swayed, then danced to music every chance he got, yet Joanne had never even heard his voice say “Mama”.

Now three, he dances under the trees, tossing leaves into the air with joy, eyes closed, a look of bliss on his face. There is, at this moment, no sound around them other than the breeze whispering through the trees and Jacob’s feet beating rhythms on the ground.

Joanne remembers a story she once heard, that at birth all children can hear and understand the voices of angels. When the child acquires human speech, this knowledge vanishes and another connection to heaven is lost.

Jacob, Joanne knows, is still “trailing clouds of glory”, still holding that connection to heaven. He is now dancing to the music of angels. It is the most beautiful song for him, the most meaningful dance for her.

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This is beautiful, Susan. A really lovely read.

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Susan, this is a gorgeous story on all levels. What a wonderful story to read as we move into the brilliant fall season. The picture you chose is absolutely perfect. So inspiring, so full of joy!!

Do you remember once when I was in high school, we had friends visiting for Thanksgiving and we all took a walk around the neighborhood? When we came upon a collection of leaves that someone had carefully raked into a huge pile, we didn’t hesitate. We leaped onto the pile, squealing like pre-schoolers, scattering leaves everywhere!

Autumn and joyfulness go hand in hand, don’t they?

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Thank you, Linda. I have had this story in my mind for over 40 years, but only recently been inspired to write it down. Although the story is a compilation of different time periods in my life, the picture is of my grandson who is now 9 years old. He still dances with leaves when no one is looking.

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@SusanGiles

Susan, that “trailing clouds of glory” hits differently to me. I now know what it means. Thanks to you. And also, your story is very lovely. Nice one.

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The line “trailing clouds of glory” comes from one of my favorite poems, “Ode to Intimations of Immortality” by William Wordsworth. I have this quote hanging in my bedroom for daily enjoyment. We all do live close to heaven.

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That Wordsworth Ode is quite a long poem. Which part of it do you have hanging in your bedroom?

I know in the poem Wordsworth celebrates infants who still remember the “other world”, as your story also intimates. I have met a few incredible adults who still have an essence of that beauty and innocence. Many of them have gone through tumultuous and challenging experiences to regain that innocence. I hope to spend the rest of my life surrounded by such people.

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The section of Wordsworth Ode that is in my bedroom is:

“Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting
The soul that rises with us, our life’s star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting
and cometh from afar.
Not in entire forgetfulness and not in utter nakedness,
but trailing clouds of glory do we come
from God who is our home.”

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Very beautiful - I especially like “The soul … hath had elsewhere its setting and cometh from afar.” I knew the clouds of glory, but didn’t remember this about the soul.

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It’s a beautiful poem. I actually used part of it on Jennifer’s birth announcement!