A few times during the last year, I published a poem or two by a grand elderly lady from Springfield, MA. Ann Sherwood kept her beloved goats for many years (she said they were Norskas), and loved them dearly even after she became too infirm to keep them any longer. I got to know Ann when she sent me a couple poems, and I had the privilege of regularly corresponding with her for the last couple years. She was a keen intellect, and a very nice person. Ann passed away last month (May), so as a tribute, I want to publish a few more of her poems. I think you, too, will see from her missives just what a special person she was.
Welcome, capri-baby to our world,
World of wonder, joy... and trouble,
Gasp our air and let limbs be unfurled
From your sterile bubble.
Two ladies happy you are here...
Your dam, and I assisting
To dry your coat; both persevere,
Then steer you teat-ward, unresisting.
Oh creature of the caprine kind,
So late of sphere placental,
Product of famous lines combined,
Accept greetings sentimental.
So say I, and so does she in capri-tongue,
A gutteral, yet tender whickering,
Your breeding shows, tho you're so young,
You'll have famed breeders dickering.
Let me live as I will,
Slightly giddy I'll thrill
To strange foliage taste,
Then to Hilltop I'll haste,
The heights are for me.
Leaping cliffs agilely,
I'll balance on edge
Of some wind-swept rock ledge.
But in confines of the byre,
I'm a proud pedigreed sire
of charming offspring.
All curvet; All cloven feet fling.
May we ne're be indifferent to the moon,
May still from stardust, poets get their boon.
From Aldebaran or Milky Way,
May every "odist" have his say.
Luna, visited briefly bt astronauts,
Who found no verdure or mossy grots,
Show to certain ones, your mystic face
As tho the heavens you seem to race.
Heavenly bodies, sky happenings have been explained.
Aurora borealis, coruscated, diaphaned ---
May we on terra be awed
By the celestial, the aquatic, and the sod:
May we gain wisdom yet have wonder, too,
DON'T BRUSH OFF STARDUST IF IT FALLS ON YOU.
I'm sure Ann's spirit is now residing in a much better place, and she is no longer plagued by a sharp intellect held prisoner in a frail body. Thank you Ann, for the privilege of knowing you these last couple years.