Poetry and Persistence Make for a Long Life

(Editor’s note: Canada Free Press Literary Editor and musical composer Michael Vallins, diagnosed with cancer in April 2008, was happy his 92-year-old mother got to meet her first great grandson, Seth the day before he had to tell her about the death of her first-born son). In early July of this year I flew from Toronto to London, England to visit my 92-year-old mother. Besides wanting to see her of course, I also had come to break the news to her that Harold, her first-born son, my brother, had died. He lived in Australia. He had actually died a few weeks before, but at this particular time my mother was going through a deeply emotional upheaval and my sister Marion, my aunts and I decided it would be better to wait a week or so until she was more settled. Also for obvious reasons, I wanted to tell her personally and not by telephone.