Sheila Arnold was born and raised in rural West Tennessee into a hard-working tenant farming family. A retired educator, she earned degrees from Union University in Jackson, TN and from the University of Memphis. She now lives in Jackson, TN with her husband, Bobby and their dog, Louie. She is the mother of two and grandmother to six. She is an avid supporter of local artists and an advocate for improving the livability of her community and the literacy and educational opportunities for locals.

Don’t Let it be in April

 
 
 
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 Don’t let it be in April.
 Please hold off a little while
 I can’t bear the heartache now
 I need to feel a smile
  
 I need to dance in sunshine
 And feel fresh morning dew
 Don’t let it be in April
 When life is fresh and new.
  
 If April showers bring May flowers,
 Then what do May flowers bear?
 The pangs of loss and sorrow
 And hearts is disrepair.
  
 May flowers for the headstones
 Mother’s Day bright bouquets.
 Flowers for the empty chairs
 Left empty on Decoration days.
  
 Just don’t let it be in April.
 My soul is needing rain
 I need to feel the sunshine.
 I just cannot stand the pain.
  
 But not in somber winter
 That’s when it’s hard to grieve
 When days are short and dark
 And nights offer no reprieve.
  
 Spare me in the cool brisk air
 Of autumn’s grieving skies
 The pain in grey October
 When all around me dies. 
  
 Please keep the hurt away from me
 In summer’s humid air
 There is no time, no time at all
 No time that seems fair.
  
 But please, just not in April.
 April holds enough heartache.
 Just please give us a few more days
 It’s more than I can take.
 4/10/19.  G.G.