Poetry by Opal Grindstaff McGuire

My maternal great-aunt, Opal Evelyn (Grindstaff) McGuire was a poet.  She has three poems published in The Spring Anthology 1938 published by The Mitre Press, London.  My copy of this Anthology was a gift from Opal to her mother, Anna Belle (Harrison) Hoffert.  The first poem The Tinker was inspired by Opal's son, Alvin.  Betty was written about my grandmother, Opal's younger sister, who was living in Brown's Mills, New Jersey.

To My Mother
Christmas 1938
Life gives us but the empty hours.
Love, gives the blossoming of flowers.
To live, the blossoms need the dew
And my life needs the love of you.
Opal McGuire

Betty
She lives simply in her northern woods,
Each peaceful hour,
Until her life seems quite a part of them.
Unlike a flower,
That, with the blush of dawn awakens
To blossom fair;
Bright shades the tender bud of life
Held dormant there;
But as a violet blooming by a brook,
Sweet and serene,
Womanly, motherly in her grace,
A reigning queen.

Opal McGuire

Opal (Grindstaff) McGuire