Poetry Page

This page contains some of my favorite poetry and verses. I promise, like my mind, it will be constantly changing. You can have a hand in this as well, send me your favorite verse and if I like it, I’ll put it here and give you (and of course the author) credit. Remember, this is my page, so don’t be torked (sic) if I don’t put it here!

Thoughts from Mamma

The first two poems are taken from Dillweed and Cornsilk , ©1981, by my dear Mother, Naoma Lee (Fletcher) Frerichs , Mar 17, 1922 – December 21, 1997. The next three were written for my Grandchildren during Mom’s much too short stay with us during the summer of ’96 just before her passing.

A Smile
Quit Smoking
A Letter to Kristin
This Fella – Jeffrey
To Ryan

Brother Kipling

I was introduced to Rudyard Kipling’s writings by my Maternal Grandmother, Vernie (Disbrow) Fletcher when she gave me a compilation of several of his stories for Christmas, 1962. His Law of the Jungle epitomizes my credo and puts into words many of my personal ideals. I address Mr. Kipling as “Brother” since he was a cherished member of the Freemasons.

The Law of the Jungle

A Smile

It’s a cruel world and a short lived one
So an hour is well worth saved.
If you put on a laugh at the tip of your tongue
And walk where the road is paved.
There’s a million joys if you want to smile
Where a million tears were shed,
And a tale of woe is an empty thing
When the bearer is still and dead.
A smile will reflect to a million hearts
A joy that the world can save,
So brush the frown from your weary face
And smile all the way to the grave!

Quit Smoking
(Written for Herbert Lee Fletcher)

I tried to quit smoking……Oh, no I’m not joking,
I honestly, earnestly tried.
Not once was I clever to test this endeavor.
Repeatedly did I hide
The cigarette holder, the matches that smolder,
The habit that held me at bay.
And yet, weak and weary, with countenance dreary
I am still smoking today.
Oh, sometimes I wonder when I hear the thunder
And lightning puts on it’s great show,
If I am an actor….a practicing factor
For a big smoke that’s burning…..”below”!

A Letter to Kristin
(From Grandfather Dennis)

Little girl with the big blue eyes-
And half-smile on that dear, sweet face,
You remind me how time flies
Since you came to take your place
In Dziadzi’s heart.

Growing flower, please go slow-
Down life’s path – so I can share,
Step so careful as you go –
And of the pitfalls be aware
Yet not depart.

Someday when I’m old and gray,
Take my hand and help me trod
Down the long and wending way
Where we find our peace with God –
In his all-loving heart.

This Fella – Jeffrey
(A Message from Grandfather Dennis)

This fella makes my old heart sing,
He make me wiser, too –
Because of things he’ll “say” or “wonder”,
Because of things he’ll do.

Sometimes I note his brown eyes twinkle,
And I tend to pause:
If this be tricks he’s dreaming up now,
Or some lad’s secret cause.

This fella, quick and agile always
Keeps “Ga Gee” on the run.
But it’s so great to be your Grandpa,
You – My first Grandson!

So listen to my words, now Jeffrey.
Keep them safely in your heart.
Someday you’ll have your own Grandson –
With wisdom to impart.

To Ryan
(From Babci Angie)

Do you wonder why you traveled
To this place in time?
And do you feel the strength of caring –
Little soul, sublime?
As I spread now your wee blanket
Soft, and clean, and warm.
Hovering over babe and cradle –
Protecting from all harm –
Perhaps God knew my arms were empty –
And surely, my heart too.
My womb is silent and forbidding
Where no small being grew.
No more it nurtures my own children,
So He sent me you.
Do those blue eyes send a message
As they scan my face?
Are you smiling at the Angels
In that far – off place?
Edenic – blessed – and everlasting-
O’er the clouds above?
If so, tell beloved Mary –
You are so truly loved!

The Law of the Jungle
From The Jungle Books, Rudyard Kipling (A Brother Freemason)
Just to give you an idea of the immense variety of the Jungle Law, I have translated into verse (baloo always recited them in a sort of sing-song) a few of the laws that apply to the wolves. There are, of course, hundreds and hundreds more, but these will do for specimens of the simpler rulings.

Now this is the Law of the Jungle ~ as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back ~
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.

Wash daily from nose tip to tail tip: drink deeply, but never too deep;
And remember the night is for hunting, and forget not the day is for sleep.

The jackal may follow the Tiger, but Cub, when thy whiskers are grown,
Remember the Wolf is a hunter ~ go forth and get food of thine own.

Keep peace with the Lords of the Jungle ~ the Tiger, the Panther, and Bear;
And trouble not Hathi the Silent, and mock not the Boar in his lair.

When Pack meets Pack in the Jungle, and neither will go from the trail,
Lie down till the leaders have spoken ~ it may be fair words shall prevail.

When ye fight with a Wolf of the Pack, ye must fight him alone and afar,
Lest others take part in the quarrel, and the Pack be diminished by war.

The Lair of the Wolf is his refuge, but where he digged it too plain,
The Council shall send him a message, and so he shall change it again.

If ye kill before midnight, be silent, and wake not the woods with your bay,
Lest ye frighten the deer from the crops, and thy brothers go empty away.

Ye may kill for yourselves and your mates, and your cubs as they need, and you can;
But kill not for pleasure of killing, and seven times never kill Man.

The Kill of the Pack is the meat of the Pack. Ye must eat it where it lies;
And no one may carry away of that meat to his lair, or he dies.

The Kill of the Wolf is the meat of the Wolf. He may do what he will,
But, till he has given permission, the Pack may not eat of that Kill.

Cub-Right is the right of the Yearling. From all of his pack he may claim
Full-gorge when the killer has eaten; and none may refuse him the same.

Lair-Right is the right of the Mother. From all of her year she may claim
One haunch of each kill for her litter, and none may deny her the same.

Cave-Right is the right of the Father ~ to hunt by himself for his own;
He is freed of all calls to the Pack; he is judged by the Council alone.

Because of his age and his cunning, because of his gripe and his paw,
In all that the Law leaveth open, the word of the Head Wolf is Law.

Now these are the Laws of the Jungle, and many and mighty are they;
But the head and the hoof of the Law and the haunch and the hump is ~ Obey!