tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9361490761334222652023-11-15T05:45:48.738-08:00Chaco's PoemsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-936149076133422265.post-67133341572123965692010-05-24T19:07:00.000-07:002010-09-22T16:44:51.439-07:00<strong><em>Lonley Ranch Road</em></strong><br />
<br />
<em>Left my love above a lonely ranch road</em><br />
<em>Like a promise made but a debt still owed</em><br />
<em>Released to the winds by two she loved</em><br />
<em>Free to fly on like the spanish dove</em><br />
<em>High above that broken heart ranch</em><br />
<em>High above the tamarack branch</em><br />
<em>Looking down she will see him ride out</em><br />
<em>On his favorite mount a true cowboy scout</em><br />
<em>To check on the fences, the corn and the cows</em><br />
<em>To check on the water the fields and the plows</em><br />
<em>If you look in the morning or late in the eve</em><br />
<em>When the sun is still rising or setting with ease</em><br />
<em>You will sometimes see them both on that ridge</em><br />
<em>Between this life an that across a far bridge</em><br />
<em>One flies to the east on a strong steady wing</em><br />
<em>One rides to the west where the cowboys still sing</em><br />
<em> -yfp-</em><br />
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<strong><em>She Is In a Better Place</em></strong><br />
<br />
<em>She is in a better place</em><br />
<em>Only happiness on her face</em><br />
<em>She hikes the wooded trail </em><br />
<em>With a body that is not frail</em><br />
<em>She climbs the mountain tops</em><br />
<em>In bounds and leaps and hops</em><br />
<em>She paddles the pristene lake</em><br />
<em>Cleaving a ribboned wake</em><br />
<em>She has no single care</em><br />
<em>Her body will not wear</em><br />
<em>She owns the sun and stars</em><br />
<em>The moon that shines afar</em><br />
<em>I will see her in the trees </em><br />
<em>And know she smiles at me</em><br />
<em>I will feel her in the wind</em><br />
<em>A kiss upon my skin</em><br />
<em>I will hold her in the dark</em><br />
<em>Firmly against my heart</em><br />
<em>She is still my guiding light</em><br />
<em>Always in my sight</em><br />
<em>When my trail has to end</em><br />
<em>On her I can depend</em><br />
<em>With open arms we’ll meet</em><br />
<em>Forever to hold and keep</em><br />
<br />
<em> -yfp-</em><br />
<strong><br />
</strong><br />
<strong><br />
</strong><br />
<strong><em>This Trail is Too Tough</em></strong><br />
<br />
We climbed Roan Mountain, trees bent and froze<br />
Till forced to retreat and thaw out our numb toes<br />
Howling north winds uprooted pines from the duff<br />
But the trail we now take is proving too tough<br />
<br />
We paddled kayaks in rain through the Misty Fjords<br />
Among Orca with dorsals the size of surfboards<br />
At night bears in our camp tried to raid the foodstuff<br />
But the trail we now take is proving too tough<br />
<br />
We hiked in the night over Baked Oven Knob<br />
On wracked knees and sore feet, coarse as corn cobs<br />
Up that Appalachian Trail you might have heard of<br />
But this trail we now take is proving too tough<br />
<br />
We camped with alligators in the vast Everglades<br />
With panthers, snakes and mosquitoes in spades<br />
We froze in chickees till we had quite enough<br />
But this trail we now take is proving too tough<br />
<br />
We trekked in the desert, up mountains, through trees<br />
Baked by the sun then froze by the breeze<br />
Sunburned and bug bit we laughed, “that’s not rough!”<br />
But this trail we now take is proving too tough<br />
<br />
Twenty miles each day with just bread left to sup<br />
We’re long distance hikers,we never give up<br />
This trail we will beat in the end you will see<br />
It is tough but we’re tougher; Toesox and me!<br />
<br />
-yfp-<br />
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-<br />
<strong>The Alligator’s Lair</strong><br />
<br />
Today we paddled to the alligator’s lair,<br />
Through cypress trees dripping mossy wet hair,<br />
Past beaver lodges, through spatterdock,<br />
Deadly silent, but I heard they can bark,<br />
Our paddles slice through stagnant duckweed,<br />
In this quest to see a gator, indeed!<br />
Too late to turn back, or even around,<br />
Black water, my boat, it completely surrounds,<br />
The weeds, the moss, tower above my ducked head,<br />
So low in the water is what I most dread,<br />
Pressed on in our search, the noises and sounds,<br />
Of buzzing and screeching and my heart when it pounds,<br />
The water, it looks like I could just step out,<br />
And walk on it’s surface to look all about,<br />
Then I see up ahead in the swamp she is trapped,<br />
In the knees of the cypress her kayak is wrapped,<br />
I hear such a scream, then a scream once again,<br />
Is the nightmare we feared about to begin?<br />
As the screams and the splashing begin to subside,<br />
I see she still lives, her paddle held high!<br />
To strike it with might again on it’s head?<br />
The closer I paddle it’s clear I misread….<br />
The danger was not huge teeth and great tail….<br />
as long as the boat and covered with scale.<br />
The danger it seems was all in our head,<br />
Just a little fish jumping and bravery was shed!<br />
We laugh when we paddle that place now and then,<br />
Remembering what nimrods we surely had been.<br />
Now we still go, when it rains and it’s dark,<br />
When the swamp closes in and in the distance they bark.<br />
I don’t worry what happens if a gator we meet,<br />
In a paddle for life, her……I know I can beat!<br />
<br />
-yfp-<br />
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<strong>The Grail Bird</strong><br />
<br />
I heard they found the Ivory Bill<br />
Once thought extinct it lives here still<br />
They found it in the woods so deep<br />
A secret life it tried to keep<br />
Far from man in old growth wood<br />
But it’s call was heard and understood<br />
They came in boats and some on foot<br />
All camouflaged, on faces soot<br />
Decoys spread so that they might<br />
Track it down and film it’s flight<br />
So now it’s found and made the news<br />
The world all kneels on birder’s pews<br />
The Grail Bird’s out and on display<br />
I’m glad it’s safe but don’t hurray<br />
For sixty years it hid about<br />
It’s secret safe, but now it’s out<br />
So this must be it’s second chance<br />
Can we not spare the song and dance?<br />
Just stay away and let it think<br />
That we’re the ones who went extinct<br />
<br />
-yfp-<br />
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<strong>The So Called Hunters</strong><br />
<br />
I see them almost every season<br />
Why they kill I see no reason<br />
They are so fat, it’s not for food<br />
Maybe to boost a macho mood?<br />
The solar feeder, it’s seeds abound<br />
Same time each day sprays food around<br />
So deer will gather at it’s feet<br />
This “hunter” sits on a cozy seat<br />
Only fifty yards and through his scope<br />
Of 9X power and still he hopes<br />
That he can hit that buck and put it in the bag<br />
And around a campfire with beer and brag<br />
To all who will listen he will tell<br />
Such tales of tracking and shot so well<br />
How he bagged that buck and packed it out<br />
No need to say in a “four by” Scout<br />
I used to hunt and quite a lot<br />
But quickly found a sport it’s not<br />
When deer are taught a timer’s dance<br />
Scoped magnums roar, they have no chance<br />
They can have it all, I want no part<br />
I just wish the deer would start<br />
To learn to shoot and get them first<br />
Those so-called “hunters” with blood thirst<br />
<br />
-yfp-<br />
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<strong>Missing You</strong><br />
<br />
I miss your shoulders<br />
and your soft lips<br />
Your laughing eyes<br />
and your kiss<br />
Your loving arms <br />
around my waist<br />
Our quiet talks<br />
and your face<br />
I miss your touch<br />
upon my skin<br />
I miss your ear<br />
to whisper in<br />
But most of all <br />
I miss my heart<br />
When you left <br />
you took that part<br />
To love you more<br />
I need it back<br />
To fill this void<br />
deep and black<br />
So don't delay<br />
Please return<br />
Remove this hurt<br />
and ease this burn<br />
You are my life<br />
Please hurry back<br />
I love you so<br />
Sheila Black<br />
<br />
-yfp-<br />
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<strong>Give Me the Mountains</strong><br />
<br />
<br />
Give me the mountains,<br />
The mountain‘s cold breeze.<br />
I’ll take the trail,<br />
The trail ’neath the trees.<br />
Give me the friends,<br />
The friends on the A.T.<br />
I’ll take the wind,<br />
It sounds good to me,<br />
Give me the night,<br />
The night and the stars,<br />
I’ll take the freedom to be just who we are.<br />
Give me the heart,<br />
The heart for the next climb. <br />
And I’ll take the love,<br />
I’ll not leave behind.<br />
For traveling alone,<br />
Is traveling half blind.<br />
<br />
-yfp-Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1