poem COLLECTION #2: THE ROOFS OF NEUCHÂTEL
part 2: learning
Commentary
Over the years, I have spent much time on seven campuses as undergraduate, graduate student, teacher, alumni association officer, and regent, not to count innumerable visits there with my children, nieces and nephews, and, more recently, my grandchildren. I have thus been able to cater to the love of these places of learning that came to me quite naturally. This may not have been so but for the privilege for starters of the four flourishing years on Mount Oread, the site of the University of Kansas.
The poem Class Reunion was written as part of the program planned to celebrate the 50th anniversary year of my class, the Class of '34. My late brother-in-law Colonel Howard Chesham, sometime national treasurer of the Salvation Army, and a gifted musician, put this poem to music. Two tunes: one hymn-like (Key of G) and one more lively (Key of E Flat) both in 4/4 time. I thought it just possible that the Alumni Gold Medal Club (those having graduated 50 or more years ago) might want its own song. But as I am not around Lawrence often enough to follow through, nothing came of the idea.
Academia was written in 1988, during the University's very successful fund drive, when the initial effort to raise $155 million resulted in eventually bringing in $265 million. The "new star" refers to the aim of the drive to push the University beyond Four Star status. Specifically, I read the poem as part of my remarks at the dedication of the addition to the Spahr Engineering Library, on which occasion tribute was paid to Charlie and Janie Spahr for their generosity in making the building possible, he having been my roommate when we were both students at the School of Engineering & Architecture.
Highly personal for me were the times I fashioned Undaunted and Doctorate, both poems being in a sense written as tribute to my eldest daughter Nancy. Undaunted could well have been placed in the category "Daring," but Nancy's inspiring struggle to overcome the scourge of cancer took place during the time she had been completing her dissertation for the PhD at the University of North Carolina. Together with other members of the family I saw her receive the degree in the Spring of 1991 during the colorful commencement exercise at Chapel Hill. It was, and remains, an exceptional moment for us all. Hence the linkage of Undaunted with the poem Doctorate.
Several poems included have a special history. They were written for the competition held by the North Carolina Poetry Society. The Society's major activities are conducted in Southern Pines where resides the state's Poet Laureate, Sam Ragan, publisher and editor of the semi-weekly newspaper The Pilot. This proximity to our homes led my grandson John and me to become members of the Society, and to participate in its activities. Of the poems submitted by me in 1993, the one I thought merited least consideration was the only limerick I have ever written, Words. Produced in perhaps no more than three minutes and submitted at the last moment, I was astonished to receive later a check for $10. The poem had placed third in the statewide contest, and was published in the Society's Award Winning Poems: 1994 (page 59).
I-95 is not so much about learning as it is about unlearning. It speaks to the assault upon the senses made by the signs of decay one sees driving along certain stretches of our highway system. And, as well, the sadness one feels in fast-food restaurants on witnessing the damage to patrons by the self-inflicted wounds of overeating, and thus the damage to the general welfare.
We can be instructed by observing nature. And here, where we live, situated as we are on the beautifully kept grounds of a golf course, amid woods, lakes and hills, flora and fauna abound, thus making it easy to respond to occasional requests for a quatrain for inclusion in the bimonthly Members' Newsletter. Hence, Renewal and Resurrection.
PAB 1996
Alyeskan August
In snow white ship we plied the glacial sea
In search of wonders in the north's great state
And wonders found so great they could not be
So silently were mount and sky to wait
While coral streaked the captive clouds of gleam
That spruce held up their reverent arms to pray
We saw King salmon gain the upper stream
Once panned for gold where grizzlies learn to play
Saw miracle of oil from Northern Slope
In harmony with tundra's caribou
And far from glaciers calving floes of taupe
Contesting rams where golden eagles flew
But brightest wonder found at search's end
Found without search in the heart of a friend
Words
We met a man from Madras
Whom everyone found a bit crass
Despite constant urging
Resisting our purging
Like a donkey remaining an ass
Renewal
When crocus buds through Winter's crust appear
By warming sun and rain to be made whole
We can but know that Spring again is here
To slake the parched recesses of the soul
Resurrection
Springtime gives promise of good seed once sown
To seeing eye her glorious bloom is given
Such flowering may to us as well be known
Through acts of love that mend the heart once riven
Academia
When twilight fell I came upon the Hill
To dream of what had been and yet could be
Where pioneers by sacrificial work, refill
Tall towers of our learning to be free
Then climbing where was naught but virgin soil
Again I heard above the rustling leaves
The teaching voices sharing gifts, in toil
For him who by his mind and main achieves
And there heard, too, the roar of watching crowd
Where players strove to best the ones opposed
So won, or losing, quit the field unbowed
Redoubling effort, they new strength disclosed
As one and all reached forth to claim the prize
Above the Hill I saw a new star rise
Class Reunion
Come climb again the Hill where once we shared
In golden days of youth the shining dreams
Of victory of self to gain and dared
To test if truth be other than it seems
Imperfect earth leads us to paths unseen
And battles fought yield scars we cannot hide
Yet echoes sound in halls of years between
Bid courage take till faith and hope abide
The gathering swell of Rock Chalk's old refrain
Mid ringing peals of Crimson and the Blue
Stirs heart and hand to reach and touch again
Remembered friends we knew before time flew
Road's end brings now a parting of the way
Beyond, the glow of what we shared shall stay
Undaunted
High in the sky the bright sun shines
Life seems the color of the rose
Paying homage we seek at our sacred shrines
To hold to the good, the bad to foreclose;
And yet . . . and yet . . .
How little we know of the final sum:
Of what we'll eschew, of what is to come
Of what we must bear that no one can share
Or what in the end the difference it makes
If we choose to fight back with whatever it takes.
And yet . . . and yet . . .
We're not made to be quitters whatever the life
And there's help to be had in winning the strife
If we look beyond self we find we can cope
For the seeking itself is what brings the hope.
Thus if on this journey the battle be fought
We can count on achieving the victory sought
Doctorate
If ever in the greening of our spring
You should perchance be near the Chapel Hill
Mid elms and bright azaleas flowering
Think on what sacred promise may fulfill
The yearning to explore, to seek, to find,
To add to what is known, and hence to prove
The outer reaches of the human mind
Now sounds the bell, the long line forms to move
The cortege of our learning passes by
To reap acclaim this day, without regret
The scars from labor of the long Why? Why?
Have healed and serve to make her stronger yet
She with her gifts strives for the higher things
Thus to herself and family honor brings
I-95
Varicose vein of America's East Coast
Picture of beauty becoming a ghost
Pulsing and throbbing through town after town
The once grand buildings have now tumbled down
Artless giant billboards that push us to buy
Things we don't want and that dissatisfy
One-driver cars racing by monstrous trucks
All belching forth deadly gasses and mucks
Foul-smelling restrooms in need of a mop
Bars on the cash-box in need of a cop
Big-bellied men towing big-butted wives
Pig-out Fast Food Bars snuffing out their lives
Varicose vein of America's East Coast
Picture of beauty becoming a ghost
Over the years, I have spent much time on seven campuses as undergraduate, graduate student, teacher, alumni association officer, and regent, not to count innumerable visits there with my children, nieces and nephews, and, more recently, my grandchildren. I have thus been able to cater to the love of these places of learning that came to me quite naturally. This may not have been so but for the privilege for starters of the four flourishing years on Mount Oread, the site of the University of Kansas.
The poem Class Reunion was written as part of the program planned to celebrate the 50th anniversary year of my class, the Class of '34. My late brother-in-law Colonel Howard Chesham, sometime national treasurer of the Salvation Army, and a gifted musician, put this poem to music. Two tunes: one hymn-like (Key of G) and one more lively (Key of E Flat) both in 4/4 time. I thought it just possible that the Alumni Gold Medal Club (those having graduated 50 or more years ago) might want its own song. But as I am not around Lawrence often enough to follow through, nothing came of the idea.
Academia was written in 1988, during the University's very successful fund drive, when the initial effort to raise $155 million resulted in eventually bringing in $265 million. The "new star" refers to the aim of the drive to push the University beyond Four Star status. Specifically, I read the poem as part of my remarks at the dedication of the addition to the Spahr Engineering Library, on which occasion tribute was paid to Charlie and Janie Spahr for their generosity in making the building possible, he having been my roommate when we were both students at the School of Engineering & Architecture.
Highly personal for me were the times I fashioned Undaunted and Doctorate, both poems being in a sense written as tribute to my eldest daughter Nancy. Undaunted could well have been placed in the category "Daring," but Nancy's inspiring struggle to overcome the scourge of cancer took place during the time she had been completing her dissertation for the PhD at the University of North Carolina. Together with other members of the family I saw her receive the degree in the Spring of 1991 during the colorful commencement exercise at Chapel Hill. It was, and remains, an exceptional moment for us all. Hence the linkage of Undaunted with the poem Doctorate.
Several poems included have a special history. They were written for the competition held by the North Carolina Poetry Society. The Society's major activities are conducted in Southern Pines where resides the state's Poet Laureate, Sam Ragan, publisher and editor of the semi-weekly newspaper The Pilot. This proximity to our homes led my grandson John and me to become members of the Society, and to participate in its activities. Of the poems submitted by me in 1993, the one I thought merited least consideration was the only limerick I have ever written, Words. Produced in perhaps no more than three minutes and submitted at the last moment, I was astonished to receive later a check for $10. The poem had placed third in the statewide contest, and was published in the Society's Award Winning Poems: 1994 (page 59).
I-95 is not so much about learning as it is about unlearning. It speaks to the assault upon the senses made by the signs of decay one sees driving along certain stretches of our highway system. And, as well, the sadness one feels in fast-food restaurants on witnessing the damage to patrons by the self-inflicted wounds of overeating, and thus the damage to the general welfare.
We can be instructed by observing nature. And here, where we live, situated as we are on the beautifully kept grounds of a golf course, amid woods, lakes and hills, flora and fauna abound, thus making it easy to respond to occasional requests for a quatrain for inclusion in the bimonthly Members' Newsletter. Hence, Renewal and Resurrection.
PAB 1996
Alyeskan August
In snow white ship we plied the glacial sea
In search of wonders in the north's great state
And wonders found so great they could not be
So silently were mount and sky to wait
While coral streaked the captive clouds of gleam
That spruce held up their reverent arms to pray
We saw King salmon gain the upper stream
Once panned for gold where grizzlies learn to play
Saw miracle of oil from Northern Slope
In harmony with tundra's caribou
And far from glaciers calving floes of taupe
Contesting rams where golden eagles flew
But brightest wonder found at search's end
Found without search in the heart of a friend
Words
We met a man from Madras
Whom everyone found a bit crass
Despite constant urging
Resisting our purging
Like a donkey remaining an ass
Renewal
When crocus buds through Winter's crust appear
By warming sun and rain to be made whole
We can but know that Spring again is here
To slake the parched recesses of the soul
Resurrection
Springtime gives promise of good seed once sown
To seeing eye her glorious bloom is given
Such flowering may to us as well be known
Through acts of love that mend the heart once riven
Academia
When twilight fell I came upon the Hill
To dream of what had been and yet could be
Where pioneers by sacrificial work, refill
Tall towers of our learning to be free
Then climbing where was naught but virgin soil
Again I heard above the rustling leaves
The teaching voices sharing gifts, in toil
For him who by his mind and main achieves
And there heard, too, the roar of watching crowd
Where players strove to best the ones opposed
So won, or losing, quit the field unbowed
Redoubling effort, they new strength disclosed
As one and all reached forth to claim the prize
Above the Hill I saw a new star rise
Class Reunion
Come climb again the Hill where once we shared
In golden days of youth the shining dreams
Of victory of self to gain and dared
To test if truth be other than it seems
Imperfect earth leads us to paths unseen
And battles fought yield scars we cannot hide
Yet echoes sound in halls of years between
Bid courage take till faith and hope abide
The gathering swell of Rock Chalk's old refrain
Mid ringing peals of Crimson and the Blue
Stirs heart and hand to reach and touch again
Remembered friends we knew before time flew
Road's end brings now a parting of the way
Beyond, the glow of what we shared shall stay
Undaunted
High in the sky the bright sun shines
Life seems the color of the rose
Paying homage we seek at our sacred shrines
To hold to the good, the bad to foreclose;
And yet . . . and yet . . .
How little we know of the final sum:
Of what we'll eschew, of what is to come
Of what we must bear that no one can share
Or what in the end the difference it makes
If we choose to fight back with whatever it takes.
And yet . . . and yet . . .
We're not made to be quitters whatever the life
And there's help to be had in winning the strife
If we look beyond self we find we can cope
For the seeking itself is what brings the hope.
Thus if on this journey the battle be fought
We can count on achieving the victory sought
Doctorate
If ever in the greening of our spring
You should perchance be near the Chapel Hill
Mid elms and bright azaleas flowering
Think on what sacred promise may fulfill
The yearning to explore, to seek, to find,
To add to what is known, and hence to prove
The outer reaches of the human mind
Now sounds the bell, the long line forms to move
The cortege of our learning passes by
To reap acclaim this day, without regret
The scars from labor of the long Why? Why?
Have healed and serve to make her stronger yet
She with her gifts strives for the higher things
Thus to herself and family honor brings
I-95
Varicose vein of America's East Coast
Picture of beauty becoming a ghost
Pulsing and throbbing through town after town
The once grand buildings have now tumbled down
Artless giant billboards that push us to buy
Things we don't want and that dissatisfy
One-driver cars racing by monstrous trucks
All belching forth deadly gasses and mucks
Foul-smelling restrooms in need of a mop
Bars on the cash-box in need of a cop
Big-bellied men towing big-butted wives
Pig-out Fast Food Bars snuffing out their lives
Varicose vein of America's East Coast
Picture of beauty becoming a ghost
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