11 July 2012

Gwendolyn’s Kaleidoscope


Visualize
As willow trees bend
A half-moon outhouse
Grandpa’s princess dancing in the dusty road
Queen of the May, decades ago

Daddy’s gone to Korea on a big ship
I’m too young to realize the graveness
Mother, me, and brother Butch
Living in Floyd Terrace, up on the hill

Alameda at night
Searching for Daddy
As soldiers disembark
In the night mist
Home again

Great adventure at six
Wilmington to Dover, corpman’s delight
Chasing a young girl in flight, too many shots in my arm
Coast to coast by train to board a great ship
U.S.S. O’Henry, leaving Seattle in the rain
Along the gang plank, one by one, off to see Daddy
In a faraway place, the land of the Rising Sun

Roses for me, a kiss for Mom
A handshake for Butch and Al
Cousin Moses came to say how do
From Yokohama to Gifu, three years
Laced with burdensome snow, torrential monsoons
The smell of cherry blossoms in the spring

A short stop to visit with grandpa and grandma
Brothers three, a sister at last
Lynford Hall, and English estate in the 50’s
A quaint village, Mildenhall is where I live
I meet a young English girl, Judy, oh, I have a new friend

Kings and Queens, museums galore
History abounds, the Tower of London
Anne Boleyn
Will I ever stay in one place long enough to
Keep my friends

5:00 a.m., to the mess hall for a gastronomical feast
London bound for a flight, Boeing 747
My 60’s treat, land of Adolf Hitler
An historical event
The Berlin Wall

A Rhine River cruise
Meanders through the German countryside
Dreams of castles, King Ludwig and Hitler’s Retreat
High in the mountains, covered with snow

Towering excitement generates the air
Summer 1963, a Wiesbaden cheer, J.F.K. at the Von Steubin
Months later, one fateful night
Across the airwaves, death of J.F.K., sombers the evening
A secured childhood passes away, civil rights

Exciting news, I’m going home
Five years, a long time
Along the way, one last sibling, foreign born
Eagerness dies as I return to country about to erupt
Poisonous venom from slithering vipers, riots
Harsh realities….
At sixteen




1 February 1994

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