[at-l] Weary's Poem

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

At 01:14 PM 6/17/2005 -0400, Bror8588@aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 6/17/2005 1:10:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
>jbullar1@twcny.rr.com writes:
>Okay, I'm game. I'm not much of a poet. I don't even usually care for 
>poetry so the day I wrote this I must have been under the influence of 
>aliens or something. It was shortly after I retired. Maybe that had 
>something to do with it. It's the only one I ever writ so far and I'm not 
>sure it qualifies as a poem but I liked it enough to keep it.
>
>In The Shadow of a Goose
>
>Two weeks ago there were wildflowers
>on the shoulder of this country road,
>and as I walked along that day I stopped to photograph
>Queen Ann???s Lace, Mayweed, and Bladder Campion.
>
>Purple clusters of Vetch and
>pink trumpet blooms of Bindweed
>climbed the tall grasses
>reaching for the sun.
>
>Then the highway department came though,
>a big tractor pulled a huge mower
>and cut anything smaller than your thumb
>leaving in its wake a mass of mangled green.
>
>Now, the grass is getting tall again,
>almost as tall as it was,and ragweed is thriving,
>but the wildflowers are gone from the roadside.
>It???s neater now,everything the same height and all green.
>
>The wildflowers are still in bloom of course,
>just over the fence, in the farmer???s field.
>Here on the public right of way,
>things are neat and orderly, not wild.
>
>Off to my right a dozen or so geese rise from a wetland.
>They fly across the road, between me and the sun.
>The shadow of a goose passes over me,
>over the fence and over the wildflowers in the field.
>This is beautiful.  Why did you stop writing poetry.  It is within your 
>soul.  Write more!
>
>Write more!
>
>Skylander

Stop? That was a one off. I never wrote one before and haven't felt the 
urge since. I told you I was possessed that day or something. Actually 
until now that bit of doggerel was my private secret. It was hidden away in 
my computer unseen by anyone but me.