Pour Chere Josephine

For Josephine-

She'll get it one day...

"She looks up at me

With clear blue eyes

Expecting an answer

For all her whys

Her hand rest in mine

Safe, secure, without doubt

The other held in habit

Fingers folded, thumb in mouth

I collect her tears

And share her sorrow

Guide her today

While planning tomorrow

What of tomorrow?

What is left?

What do I tell her

Of it's theft?"

___________________________________________________________________________________

"She knows nothing of

Our days of glory

The flight of yesterday

Is but a bedtime story

As a forgotten fable

I tell her of a day

A day long gone

But not so far away"

"It is not a tale

Of fairies and elves

From worn out poets

On dusty shelves"

"It is the story of us

Our people, this land

When existed a balance

Between nature and man"

"A time before industry

Swallowed it all

Prior to our parents

Taking the fall"

"Before interstates

And inter web travel

When the mysteries of youth

Would slowly unravel"

"Before greasy handed tycoons

Stole all of our shores

And pop corn politicians

Became two dollar whores"

"Before convenience became king

Making comfort his queen

And a fellow man's struggle

Goes sight unseen

It is way before our phones

Would make us all dumb

And networks for socializing

Turns neighborhoods numb

Before television and oil spills

Polluted these lands

And making fun of my accent

Meant the back of my hand"

"The day before language

Was beaten and taken

Ripped from a culture

Already forsaken

I say to her

Let us talk about a day

A day long gone

But not so far away"

"A day when children

Ran barefoot in the field

And help their parents

Harvests its daily yield"

"When good clothes were reserved

For Sunday at best

And a cousins hand-me-downs

Meant more, not less"

"No digital games

Or online friends

Just a bike, a brother

And a day with no end"

"We were pirates and poets

Artist and thieves

Drunk in our imagination

With dreams to believe"

"We picked our own eggs

And milked our own cows

While Moma's and Daddy's 

Stayed true to their vows"

"There were fences to build

And pastures to bail

Ya Moma could slap you

And not go to jail"

"Fathers were feared

But took care of their own

And dogs were fed

What was left on the bone"

"Chickens were plucked

Hogs were scraped

And no one cared

If it was filmed or taped"

"A grandmother's table

Was always full of food

And she'd slap you also

If she was in the mood"

"Our sugar was our own

Milled in Breaux Bridge and Cade

Before Uncle Sam cut cane

And called it free trade"

"All rice came from Crowley

Not overseas

Served with basin crawfish

Not Chinese"

"We drank coffee

And called it a visit

Talked about life

Not what was posted"

"Long summer walks

Through thought and time

Without digital pollution

To clutter the mind

We never missed a meal

Our bellies were full

We slept like rocks

And worked like mules

Everything we wanted or needed

It came from this land

But now... today

It's all from a can"

"It was basic needs

For simple times

When a slower pace

Created complex minds

She ask me 'Daddy-

Where is this day?

And if we go,

Can we just stay?'"

"'Beb, yesterday is lost

And today is decided

Though tomorrow is a choice

And you have been invited'"

"In her eyes I see hope

So clear and true

Just because we're lost

Doesn't mean we're through

So I tell her that this time

Might be another day

A day that is long gone

But not so far away"

_____________________________________________

-Words so delicately composed by Toby Rodriguez,

 for his sweet Josephine, daughter, five years of age-

___________________________________________________________________________________

Grand Coteau, Louisiana 

by way of

Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

7.8.2014