My mother, Ruth Baird Shaw, is a poet. As a child, I took it for granted that my mother would write poems for Christmas cards and church events.

The women’s group at one of my father’s churches put Mama’s poems into a small book, and sold that as a group fundraiser.

Mama now has five books in print, counting an updated/reprinted version of that first little book.

One of my favorite  poems from my mother is The Old Woman in My Future.

Someday . . . Somehow. . . Somewhere in time

She’s waiting . . . I will see

An old woman . . . Time is making

Time is making . . . out of me.

Will she be a sad complainer,

A fretful tenant of the earth?

Or a kind, productive person

Filled with happiness and mirth?

Please be patient . . . God is making

Molding slowly . . . Out of me

A shing portrait . . . He has promised

Just you wait and see.

He is smoothing out the roughness

Polishing the dreary places

Filling life with joy and gladness

Pouring out His gifts and graces.

God, remake me in Your image.

I want to like her when I see

That old woman . . . time is making,

Time is making . . . out of me!

Other books by my mother, Ruth Baird Shaw:

  • The Chronicles Of Ruth   (Oct 23, 2011) by Ruth Baird Shaw
  • Look at the Book   (Nov 18, 2016)   by Ruth Baird Shaw
  • Life With Wings   (Jul 1, 2010)   by Ruth Baird Shaw
  • Fifty-Two Sundays   (Dec 26, 2013)   by Ruth Baird Shaw