Poetry

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0><script type="text/javascript" src="http://hb.lycos.com/hb.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ratings.lycos.com/ratings/lycosRating.js.php"></script> <script type="text/javascript"><![CDATA[//><!]]></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://scripts.lycos.com/catman/init.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-start.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-middle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-end.js"></script> <noscript> <img src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/img/common/ot_noscript.gif?rand=916523" alt="" width="1" height="1" />  <iframe frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" width="728" height="90" src="http://ad.yieldmanager.com/st?ad_type=iframe&ad_size=728x90&section=209094"></iframe>  </noscript> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=185 BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="03fb9c00dduajq.jpg"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="70" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 76 WIDTH="66"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="76" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="66" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></b></div> <div> <B> Selections on </b></div> <div> <B>this page are :</b></div> <bR> <div> <B># I   In an Africian port</b></div> <div> <B># II The Song </b></div> <div> <B>#III  The Lowlands </b></div> <div> <B>#IV  When Did America Call </b></div> <div> <B># V Under the Blue Canopy</b></div> <div> <B># VI First House</b></div> <div> <B># VII  Letter home</b></div> <div> <B># VIII  Fair Trade</b></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFBF0" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>K.de Jong</b></FONT>    |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="K.de Jong"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Me"><U>About Me</U></A>   |   <B>Poetry</b>   |   <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Page 2"><U>Page 2</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Page 3"><U>Page 3</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Page 4"><U>Page 4</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Page 5"><U>Page 5</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="page 6"><U>page 6</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Page 7 "><U>Page 7 </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="page 8"><U>page 8</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Page 9 "><U>Page 9 </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Page 10"><U>Page 10</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Page11"><U>Page11</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Photo Album"><U>Photo Album</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" Page 2"><U>  Page 2</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Page 3"><U>Page 3</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Page 4"><U>Page 4</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Thoughts "><U>Thoughts </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Scenes from the Rocky Mountains / Jasper"><U>Scenes from the Rocky Mountains / Jasper</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="HooDoos "><U>HooDoos </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" More HooDoos"><U> More HooDoos</U></A></div> <div> Poetry</div> <div>           As many are, I too am, tracing back the ancester road . So little do I know so much do I wish too. But no journey is ever made in the shortest time. To know where my Fathers Father was from is but a stepping stone and my ladder is my imagination .</div> <bR> <div> So be it that the first few pages are dedicated to my Grandfather All selections are taken from my chap book " Stepping Stones" </div> <bR> <div>   Port of Call        </div> <bR> <div>  In an African port of call</div> <div> you propose a toast</div> <div> with fermented fruit </div> <div> mixed with goats milk</div> <div> sweetened with honey </div> <div> while wisps of women dance</div> <div> and laugh at jokes</div> <div> they don't understand</div> <div> their  only language spoken</div> <div> with coin and groping hands</div> <div> in rag partitioned quarters</div> <div> where the stench of animal </div> <div> blends with drink and laughter </div> <div> as another tureen is poured</div> <div> to celebrate survival</div> <bR> <div> Five years at sea </div> <div> sun dyed and seventeen</div> <div> she urges you </div> <div> toward her mat</div> <div> but more drink </div> <div> is brought  </div> <div> and she bids her time</div> <div> feeding you sweet meats</div> <div> from a platter </div> <div> with her silver </div> <div> ringed fingers</div> <bR> <bR> <div> The Song</div> <bR> <div>  can you hear it?</div> <bR> <div>  in the sails</div> <div> above your head</div> <bR> <div> calling you away </div> <div> from the dark </div> <div> smudged line</div> <div> of the falling horizon</div> <div> mixing with the smell </div> <div> of the salt</div> <div> and sea and sky </div> <div> taking you deeper  </div> <div> into the trading routes</div> <bR> <div>   </div> <div> The Lowlands </div> <bR> <div> How do you train the sea</div> <div> with dikes and locks</div> <div> and hold it back</div> <div> from the lowlands</div> <bR> <div> surpress it</div> <div> until the day </div> <div> it grows tired of the game</div> <div> and lashes out</div> <div>  </div> <div> at your feeble efforts</div> <div> and you</div> <div> raised from birth  </div> <div> to accept the challenge</div> <bR> <div> beat it back</div> <div> ride it</div> <div> become one </div> <div> with it </div> <bR> <div> until land </div> <div> becomes </div> <div> the</div> <div>  foe</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>                                                            </div> <div> When Did America Call    </div> <bR> <div> Did you ever go back</div> <div> to show them your wealth</div> <div> your calloused palms</div> <div> from hauling rope</div> <bR> <div> Five  years on the sea and </div> <div> how many ports of call </div> <div> to trade your cargo</div> <div> of trinkets and tea</div> <div> balsa and wool</div> <bR> <div>     Boskoop</div> <div> did you call it home</div> <div> before you tied your life</div> <div> in a ragged cloth </div> <div> and ran off to sea</div> <bR> <div>  When did America call?</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Under the Blue Canopy  </div> <bR> <div> Too late in the year </div> <div> you crossed the border</div> <div> came north </div> <div> the thick woven grass </div> <div> holding the promise </div> <div> of a house </div> <div> but barely enough time </div> <div> left to dig a hole</div> <div> in a hill facing south </div> <div> a make-do until spring</div> <div> collect buffalo chips  </div> <div> and chop wood </div> <div> where you could find it</div> <div> your white breath </div> <div> clouding the gray sky</div> <div> and the sound of your axe</div> <div> singing across </div> <div> the empty sea </div> <div> of grass</div> <bR> <div> roots and ground squirrels </div> <div> kept you company</div> <div> until the snow came </div> <div> and the water froze</div> <div> along with damn near </div> <div> everything else</div> <bR> <div> five months  </div> <div> in your burrow </div> <div> before the thaw </div> <div> drives you </div> <div> to higher ground</div> <div> where the mud is drier</div> <div>  to sleep in </div> <div> the blue canopy  overhead</div> <div> stitched to your bed </div> <div> by the empty </div> <div> sea of grass</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>        First House</div> <div>                             </div> <div> From a mail order catalogue </div> <div> Page 43, Design C </div> <div> your first wooden  house</div> <div> two rooms </div> <div> complete with nails</div> <div> and one</div> <div> glass window</div> <div> shipped by rail </div> <div> from Winnipeg </div> <div> unloaded</div> <div> twenty three miles </div> <div> to the southwest </div> <bR> <div> the second part </div> <div> of the journey</div> <div> by wagon</div> <div> in a relay</div> <div> of trips</div> <div> and snatched sleep </div> <div> through </div> <div> the empty sea</div> <div> of grass</div> <div> beneath the </div> <div> blue canopy </div> <bR> <bR> <div>                 VII                                             </div> <div>     Letter Home to the Old Country </div> <bR> <div>    <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Lucida Handwriting" >The  only  rain  that  came </FONT></div> <div>     was back  in  April   </div> <div>  we  planted  wheat                                                                </div> <div>      first  week  in  May</div> <div>      what  grew  </div> <div>      fed  the  grasshoppers</div> <div>     what  they  left </div> <div>     was shadow dust</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> Fair Trade</div> <bR> <div>      Cornilius </div> <div>   do you miss</div> <div> the smell of the sea</div> <bR> <div> are you sorry you traded </div> <bR> <div> the canvas sails above your head</div> <div> for the oxen reins around your neck</div> <bR> <div> that white wake that chased our ship</div> <div> for a black plow line upon the land </div> <div>                                         </div> <div> once thunderheads meant good sailing </div> <div> but now the farmer in you watches  </div> <bR> <div> as you stand out in the storm</div> <div> letting the rain </div> <div>    wash away</div> <div>           the  </div> <div>           salt</div> <div>                                                                        </div> <div>                                                                                                     </div> <div>                                                   </div> </td> </tr></table></body>