A Chink In Time

Foreword My friend Gina is an intensely private person who lives a busy, but quiet unassuming life. However, do not be taken in by this quiet exterior - still waters run deep. As a small child Gina lived in Birmingham, but moved down to Cornwall with her parents in 1960. I really couldn’t imagine her living anywhere else, certainly not a town or a city, as Gina is wholeheartedly a country girl. Although Gina’s interests are many and varied, her love of nature wouldn’t make her out of place had she been born 100 or 150 years ago. As you read her beautiful thought provoking poems, you’re trusted to walk hand in hand with her, seeing through her eyes the beauty in nature around her, from the smallest creature to the largest vista. She makes it all come alive, so much so that when reading her poems, you can almost feel the grass beneath your feet, smell the salt in the air from the sea spray or hear the birds calling. You are transported from wherever you are to a state of total calm and serenity. This is a perfect book to take a step back from our busy lives, to sit in the garden on a pleasant summer’s afternoon or maybe curl up in front of the fire on a winter’s day. Read, relax, enjoy and let your imagination do the rest. Gina has won some prestigious awards over the years in recognition for her work, not least a cup from The International Library of Poetry based in the US, which resulted in one of her poems being published in the book, The Best Poems and Poets of 2004; the most recent being this year’s winner in United Press’s Christmas Poem competition which has resulted in a press release in the local papers and £25.00 in prize money. Like I said – ‘Still waters run deep.’ So on that note Gina, I wish you everything you’ve ever dreamed of and more. Unfold your wings and don’t just fly – SOAR! Josie Perritt Prologue A long time ago, nearly twenty years to be exact, I experienced something so profound that I shall, for as long as I live, never forget it. They say that once you have been “Touched by an Angel,” it is something you will remember forever, and nothing in your life will ever be quite the same again. How true that is, I know, for it happened to me, and yes it’s true, I shall never forget that moment; it was a moment in time that remains so deeply etched into my mind that there really are no words powerful enough to do it justice. Being brutally honest though, I can’t say it changed my life at all, not right then anyway, it was something that happened gradually over the years that followed, and then not in the way you might expect it to, only now, after learning much more and following the guidance of many wonderful teachers and mentors, it is now when I look back to that night I realise just how truly exceptional it was. The feeling has never left me, and that Angel, or Guide, who visited me that night gave me the most extraordinary gift, the gift of words; to say it changed my life, well yes, I suppose what it did, was to change the way I looked at my life, but as I said, the true life lessons were to come much, much later. I remember it all just as if it were yesterday; my life at that time was pretty tough, I had recently lost my Father, one of my beloved horses had died and work, well, work was mundane to say the least, but it brought in the money and that was what I needed. I was feeling low, I was alone and wished I had someone to share my life with; unfortunately, this led me down the path of many dead end relationships, none of which helped my self esteem; I was beginning to feel hopeless, useless, and lost, my life consisted of work, eat, sleep and work again, I thought, there has to be a light at the end of this tunnel, because always, deep down inside I felt a need or longing to do so much more, it was like there was something missing; that’s when it happened. As was my usual routine, I got into bed with my book and a cuppa and after a while felt myself starting to doze; almost at once I had the feeling there was someone at my bedside, I didn’t open my eyes, there was no need to, the feelings I felt were so intense, so aw inspiring, I couldn’t have moved even if I had wanted to. There really are no words to do justice to what was happening to me; I felt no fear, just the opposite, what I felt was an immense feeling of pure, unconditional love, like no love I had ever experienced. It was as if this presence melted into my body and rendered me completely helpless not with panic or alarm, just this intense liquefying love that seemed to flow through every part of my body. Also, without looking, I believed I knew who was there beside me, he was an old friend from my past, who had sadly passed on many years ago, and surprisingly calmly I remember asking, “Is that you, why are you here?” His answer was remarkable and so heartfelt, he simply said, “I am here to help you become strong.” Immediately I wanted to know everything, how could this be, and why, all the usual questions; all he said, very peacefully was, “Just know I am here to help you, whenever you need me.” This whole conversation as I remember it was not in words as you and I would speak, it all happened silently as if from one mind to another, it was truly amazing, my old friend had come back to me as a Guide! As I said all that happened a long time ago, and yes, the memory is still very much with me, but more importantly so is my gift, the gift of words that my dear friend seemed to leave with me after that night, words that I was later able to make into the most beautiful rhyming verse, if they weren’t a gift from God then I ask you, what were they? Although I had always had a great fascination for anything spiritual, I still remained somewhat sceptical; the same with poetry, I always had an interest in poetry, particularly if the subject was horses, but I had never really written before that night; now, a few days, or maybe weeks later, whilst out walking, the words just started to come into my head; words that made up beautiful passages, I can remember hurrying home to get them down on paper before I forgot, but I didn’t forget and one poem followed another until after a couple of years later I had nearly two hundred. I was so excited by my new writing skills, I began to write about all sorts of things; animals, the countryside, lovers, love and yes of course my spiritual experiences with my new companion. I found the words in my poems could take me anywhere, real or imagined, it was wonderful, those early poems were beautiful and innocent, but the more I learned and the more I experienced life, the more powerful my words became, I began to feel this gift should be shared, otherwise what was it all for? I put together some books which I self published with the help of friends and was forever sending poems off to competitions, most of which were very successful, but I still had the feeling they needed to be seen by a wider audience, however it wasn’t until now, nearly twenty years later, that the opportunity came for me to have another try at getting my work published; maybe I just wasn’t ready before, or perhaps the time wasn’t right, who knows, everything happens for the best, and at the right moment, I’ve learned that too over the years; I do know now, the words were given to me by some greater power, and because of this I feel there must have been a reason. To be touched by a Divine presence such as I was, and to be given this amazing gift, there had to be a purpose, and the only purpose I can think of, is the need to share it. So if my words can give people pleasure in a quiet moment, or help someone who can identify with them to improve their life, then my purpose is complete and I am on the right path at last. As for my Divine Companion, well I know he is still very much with me to this day, and always will be, helping me and encouraging me; I believe now though, now that I understand so much m