By Barbara Beyer Malley

Following is another poem from

this most amazing family.

Written by Ernestine Cobern

Beyer's daughter Barbara,

especially for her daughter,

Dr. Kathleen Malley-Morrison,

who has been a teacher for many

years, and for Sarah, the daughter
Kathie shares with Sarah's birth
mother, Joanne. As of today, the
little girl in the poem is now a
young woman of 27.

From Barbara:

"...Kathie was injured in an

automobile accident in 1965.

I was thrilled when "Sarah's

Game" was accepted by a

magazine but shocked and

disappointed when the editors

chose to leave out the last two

lines.

When I protested, they

answered that sometimes

poets didn't realize when a

poem should end. Don't you

think they were mistaken? The

whole point of my tribute

to Kathie was to show how

gracefully and cheerfully

she accepted the game little

Sarah had invented."

Sarah's Game

Mommy, Mommy, let's pretend
That I am in the wheeling chair,
And while I'm wheeling, you can
stand
And walk and run and climb a
stair.

Mommy, see me turn the wheels?
Her chubby arms propel the air:
Sarah's testing how it feels
To navigate a wheeling chair.

You may push me, Mommy, now,
Down the hall and to my room,
Just as sometimes I push you --
Faster, faster... vrooom, vrooom!

When Daddy opens up the door
I'll wheel to him across the floor.
Oh, won't he be surprised to see
That I am you and you are me!

When I grow up, perhaps I too
Can have a wheeling chair like you...
Mommy, aren't we having fun?
Indeed we are, my precious one.

Originally posted 5/26/08