In another life I'd married one
who always loved the land,
And we went to see the damage done by southern weather's hand,
And we towed a trailer rattling with tools of construction work
In a caravan of other people who thought shame to shirk,
And we did for damaged houses all that one clear week could do,
And were home again for parties others had looked forward to.
In real life he's dead, and people said, "If some are still in tents
The chances are that drink and drugs have eaten up their rents,
And in any case our shopping's done, and all our money's spent;
Let us settle down to celebrating, as God clearly meant."
And they may be right. They spent their money where it did some good.
Let them light their Christmas fires; there is plenty of dead wood.
And the worst thing about living in this grand historic State
Is that folks in the adjacent states think that we think we're "so great."
And nobody else but me has kinfolk living to our south,
And mine are farther east than that, so I will shut my mouth.
The shoe was on the other foot some forty years ago.
It may not be again for forty more, for all I know.
And we went to see the damage done by southern weather's hand,
And we towed a trailer rattling with tools of construction work
In a caravan of other people who thought shame to shirk,
And we did for damaged houses all that one clear week could do,
And were home again for parties others had looked forward to.
In real life he's dead, and people said, "If some are still in tents
The chances are that drink and drugs have eaten up their rents,
And in any case our shopping's done, and all our money's spent;
Let us settle down to celebrating, as God clearly meant."
And they may be right. They spent their money where it did some good.
Let them light their Christmas fires; there is plenty of dead wood.
And the worst thing about living in this grand historic State
Is that folks in the adjacent states think that we think we're "so great."
And nobody else but me has kinfolk living to our south,
And mine are farther east than that, so I will shut my mouth.
The shoe was on the other foot some forty years ago.
It may not be again for forty more, for all I know.
I haven't seen anything on the news here after the hurricane...are things not back on track in NC? I sense from your poem that the first verse is what you had hoped would happen...but hasn't?
ReplyDeleteHoped and merely wished. When we met, "Mr. Privacy" was always on board with things like that, and had construction equipment and a crew on call. That changed during about the last ten years of his life, and then he left this world in 2022. I did think other people would have wanted to go shopping, but apparently asked them too late.
DeleteWhy I wanted to do this was that I'm hearing different stories about what's going on in North Carolina, and wanted to see what's true. Everyone agrees some people will be living in trailers this winter, until houses can be rebuilt. The question is whether all of them by now have trailers--or at least all of them who are conscious enough to care do. Government sources say everyone is sheltered. Some local people say otherwise.
News media usually do report an event and leave people who are interested to follow up the story by ourselves.
Ah, lost dreams! We can't know the things which would have happened, if they didn't, yet it sounds as if your idea of how it could have been is quite likely, which I guess makes the idea of it all the worse.
ReplyDeleteYes...the adventure described above was a fantasy about what might have happened fifteen years ago, but at least a fact-finding and shopping tour might have happened. But it's hard to blame local people. They did spend money like good fellows, and some spent it in Virginia and Tennessee towns where buildings were damaged.
DeletePK
It's interesting to think about what might have happened, but better to live for now.
ReplyDelete