This rose bordered path at Parsons Beach in Kennebunk, Maine, has been here for decades, untended by human hands.  These seemingly fragile flowers are prolific on the shores of the Kennebunks.  My thoughts turned to the ship captains wives of days gone by.  Did these women stand among the roses on these same shores, searching for the masts of their husband's ships?  The lives of these brave men were uncertain, there was no guarantee of a safe return.

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I have made an earnest endeavor to intertwine the long enduring rose with the loyal ladies who awaited the return of their husbands, and of the vigil that they kept.  Sometimes for months at a time.  We could consider them both, the ladies of the shore. And so was written the poem entitled, "Ladies Of The Shore".

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Let go of the present for but a moment, and allow yourself to be caught up in the story I seek to tell.  Next time you are in the area, stop and smell the roses.

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Susan Brackett

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