Found this "old friend" the other day and posted it to my FB page. You see, I used to write...a Lot. Started early on like many children and wrote my first memorable ode to my father when I was 12, after an adventurous canoe ride down the Delaware River, during a massing thunder and Lightning storm. We took soaking wet refuge on a little island and I crouched into a spot that looked like a deer slept the night before - or perhaps it was its favorite sleeping spot.
All I knew was that I was safe. The storm was electric and exciting and my father, my younger brother, my dad's friend and his young son were all there, soaked to the skin. Towels as wet as our clothes. I remember laughing with giddy excitement with the interaction with the storm. (I LOVE storms!) Our food got soaked somehow. Do you know how great soggy food can actually taste when it's infused with the magic of a great storm adventure? When the rains subsided and ate a bit, that's what that food tasted like to me. Pure joy.
Here’s my first writing, inspired by this powerful, magical experience.
Reminiscence of Day’s Past - My first poem (age 12)
The stormy skies blew
as the river it drew us
into an everlasting day.
Rowing steadily on the river was really lots of fun,
but dismal it grew and then the winds blew
as we watched the fading sun.
And when rain fell down upon our faces
we kept going, filling tim
with a few canoe races.
But then the thundering clouds lit up the sky
so we had to stop to let it all pass by.
The storm, it was fierce! It was scary and yet,
I never had so much fun
getting so frightened and so wet!
It was freezing, it was cold
as the storm drenched us completely.
Nevertheless, it was an experience I’ll remember
ever so sweetly.
The trip down the river was exciting and great!
Stopping here and there, we swam and we ate.
It would have been fun, no matter what,
but the storm was the clincher
that really hit the spot.
So Thank you Dad for such an exciting day.
It’s an experience I’ll remember in a very special way.
It was fun, and I really had a great time,
so I wanted to Thank you by writing this little rhyme!
© 1975 Veronica O’Grady