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Posted on 03/01/2011 1:23:44 AM PST by JustAmy
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Lol, I’m amazed. Thanks Amy and I’m glad the size has been raised.
Hope your weekend is nice!
See my post #2458....I didn’t whisper, Amy.....LOL! But I am going to bed as it 5 to 12.....
Good one
Thanks
Hope you have fun.
I don't get around here very often... In fact, it's probably been years since a posted any of my poetry. I don't know... I guess I'm my own worst critic, so I usually keep my writings to myself.
With the weather getting better, I took to the garage to try and sort the past winter's accumulation of items... While sorting and cleaning, I decided to hang my lanterns from the upstairs floor joists in order to get them out of the way. One lantern holds particular value for me... I sat and looked at it for a bit, and then hung it on it hook. For some reason I thought about it the rest of the day. So that night, two nights ago, the words just seemed to flow easily in my mind. I put them down. Please be kind...
*****
Grandpa’s Lantern
Among others it hangs in my garage…
Waiting for the time
That I will light it once again,
For me to use its shine.
It once was a real workhorse,
At the old home place.
It made trips down to the spring for water.
It shown welcome light upon a face.
Its light was but a dim, golden glow,
But grandpa didn’t care.
He would don his coat and light the lantern,
It lit his way - everywhere.
Sometimes I take the lantern down
And light it just for fun.
It’s much aged and dimmer now,
But still the most valued one.
He’s been gone now all these years,
But I know some will understand…
When I hold my Grandpa’s lantern,
I’m holding Grandpa’s hand.
*****
So there it is... I inherited the lantern at age 14, some 32 years ago. I always admired my grandfather, whose self reliance was something on the level of amazing. He told me once that he wasn't aware that the country was in "a depression" until someone brought him a 6 month old newspaper. But that is the way it was in the Appalachian Mountains of Western North Carolina. This man, a carpenter by trade (that never owned a power tool in his life), supported a wife and 7 daughters with his hands, an 8th grade education, and a knowledge only gained through life lessons. A veteran of the Argonne Forest battles of W.W.I, he had seen the worst of that which man is capable, and it gave him a zest for life that is rarely seen in those that have not faced death on a daily basis, with the expectation that they probably wouldn't get to go home alive. He could build a house from the stone foundation to the peak of the roof, and the fine quality of workmanship is not to be found today. Even as he lay in the hospital on that cold October morning, the victim of a stroke that would take him from us just two days later, he pointed out the fact that the room was out of square - a fact that I verified for him using a double folded piece of paper (to get a perfect 90 degree angle.)
As these times have gotten harder, I look back now on the skills he taught me... Felling trees, making them into lumber, making wood shingles from red oak trees, carpentry, gardening, hunting, butchering fresh meat, making lye for soap... Appreciating what you have... The enjoyment of sitting in the dark on a front porch swing on a breezy summer night, and recognizing the smell of the rain that was headed our way. The peaceful, rhythmic sounds of trees frogs and "katy-dids", and the seemingly infinite little lights of the lightening bugs. This was my summer, growing up... Oh to be able to repeat those days. But we all know how that goes... So I hold the lantern.
Regards,
Raven6
Beautiful, Raven. Thank you for sharing your poetry and the story of your grandfather.
BTW: Welcome to Amy’s Place; hope to see you here again soon and often.
Red Fridays.
Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing red every Friday. The reason? Americans who support our troops used to be called the 'silent majority' We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for God, country and home in record breaking numbers. We are not organized, boisterous or overbearing.
Many Americans, like you, me and all our friends, simply want to recognize that the vast majority of America supports our troops. Our idea of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and respect starts this Friday -- and continues each and every Friday until the troops all come home, sending a deafening message that every red-blooded American who supports our men and women afar, will wear something red.
By word of mouth, press, TV -- let's make the United States on every Friday a sea of blue much like a homecoming football game in the bleachers. If every one of us who loves this country will share this with acquaintances, coworkers, friends, and family, it will not be long before the USA is covered in RED and it will let our troops know the once 'silent' majority is on their side more than ever, certainly more than the media lets on.
The first thing a soldier says when asked 'What can we do to make things better for you?' is .'We need your support and your prayers.' Let's get the word out and lead with class and dignity, by example, and wear something red every Friday.
High speed internet is becoming available to more people. Graphics have changed so much the past few years that I was happy to see that we could relax the size limitations.
I’m looking forward to the weekend, tho we will probably get more rain. :(
You should take up writing again!
AND, posting such visuals! :)
Thank you for sharing this one!
God bless our military. Thank you, Dubya.
We already got more up here.....all evening! :(
Earlier this evening, there were big dark clouds to the northwest. It looked like it was on its way. Is it another cold, windy storm?
I hope it drops the rain and moves on without bringing cold wind with it.
We are in a drought here in my area of Texas Amy. Funny how things work, huh? I worried about youall getting radiation from Japan!
You’ll be surprised to know that devolve is on WebTV!! He has always tried to be careful about cutting down file size because he used to be on dial up at one time.
Hope you don’t have rain and can enjoy the weekend. I’m about to head off to bed. Thanks for writing.
The wind is nothing like it was yesterday. I still had piles of ice today from the hail yesterday. I hope it’s out of here real soon!
Amen, Dubya!
WOW ... they had a lot of hail in areas of Fresno but we didn’t get any hail .... just rain.
The graphic is the actual lantern. It is an Embury 150 "Little Supreme", made somewhere around 1926. My garage is full of the "tools of the trade" of my grandfather. Crosscut saws, broad axes and broad hatchets, single and double bit axes, carpenter saws, draw knives, spoke shaves, etc. I have them because they are next to impossible to find today. I've accumulated them over the years as I found them in various little "hole in the wall" antique stores. Unfortunately, my grandpa's tools were all stolen from his basement shortly after he died... It would have been nice to have them, but they are still just tools. It's what he taught me regarding them that is priceless. If you've ever heard of the "Foxfire" series of books, they were based upon how people used to live their life in the Appalachian Mountains - and those books were written by the school children from county just across the Georgia state line from my grandfathers county in North Carolina. People lived hard lives back then, but they didn't complain because it was just the way life was in that area.
I have hundreds of tales regarding my grandfather's childhood and his growing up prior to W.W.I... Perhaps I can share them sometime for all to have a good laugh. Hilarious stories that are still family clean. There was no television signal that reached the area... With the exception of WSM 650AM out of Nashville, there was no radio signal clear enough to tolerate for any length of time. So that's what we did on summer nights - listen to stories. Mountain legends of lights in the sky (The Brown Mountain Lights)... Stories of young boys trying so hard to impress the girls, only to embarrass themselves terribly. Stories of the panthers (aka Mountain Lions to many) that would prowl around peoples' houses at night... (And then all of us little kids would have to go into the house and try to sleep with the windows open! All we could think about was panthers on the prowl! The night I finally heard one, I think I covered the entire length of the house in under one second, screaming "GRANDPA!!! THERE'S A PANTHER OUT THERE!!!" Closest I ever came to wetting myself out of fear... Probably would have too, if I had had the resources!)
It is still wild country in that area, though not as much as it once was... But we are talking about the rural county in N.C. were Eric Robert Rudolph was able to hole up for what, about 5 years? People thought that something like that was impossible... I can tell you first hand that in that area of the country not only is it not impossible, it is downright easy if you put your mind to it. To someone that knows how to live off of the land, that place is like a Garden of Eden. Everything you could ever need is there, unless you are a criminal and get lazy, deciding to go "dumpster diving" behing the local grocery store. If only I had taken to the time to actually look for that boy, I could have been $1 million richer... After I heard about where he was living and how he was traveling, I realized that I had actually been within 50 yards of him at times. I know the area that well... Still go back there at least once a year, usually twice.
Oh well, enough of my ramblings... Time to hit the hay.
Regards,
Raven6
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