Lena Smith Centenary

It is an honour, challenge too

To capture time as past it flew

100 years is a long long time

Encapsulate in a short rhyme

A starting point, Lena a teen

If we were there what would be seen

New Liskeard was dynamic town

A frontier in much reknown

Lena was a lively lass

Very popular in class

Hearsay is she loved to dance

Kicked up her heals every chance

Alf too methinks a lively guy

Lena Morris caught his eye

Personality had both

Alf the one to pledge his troth

‘Yes or no’ she had to choose

Very soon they said ‘I do’s’

Depressions grip was taking hold

Time to place one’s faith in gold

Malartic was the place to be

A prosperous community

Everyone was neighbourly

A good place for a family.

Marj, Bill and Fran a happy group

Games & songs unless with croup

Curling, tennis, hockey too

They really were a sporty crew

The War disrupted things of course

Alf joined the Military Force

Alf absent Lena managed fine

To keep her Billy boy in line

The War over, High School loomed

Marj and Bill to Almonte zoomed

Leaving Lena / Fran behind

A peaceful life Fran did not mind

Then changes came both thick & fast

Fran went off to Almonte at last

Alf retired, a new career

In Brighton, highway 2 was near

Hospitality/service was the name

Alf & Lena learnt new game

Providing tourists place to stay

Filling tanks with gas all day

A busy life: Alf’s great P.R.

While Lena many ways the star

Keeping books and cooking food

Always seeming in good mood

Alf was friendly: loved to chat

Sports and politics: chew the fat

Summer thus was never quiet

Winter saw a change of diet

Kids off hand: No one to rear

Florida was the best place where

The sun was warm and also rain

In neat abode on Grapefruit Lane

Friends and family often came

Local community the same

Early bird special: Mels Diner spurned

Winter baseball & the ‘Dogs’ yearned

Sadly though ‘Old Father Time’

Dictated hiatus in this rhyme

Marj & Alf and Fran too were hurled

Into we hope a better world

Devastating though this loss

Lena managed to survive this cross

Clearly a model for us all

When adversity comes to call

Fast forward on to Brighton bound

Apartment and good friends around

Applefest where we are now

Active as nature will allow

From here survey a dynasty

Members of our family tree

Generations times three

Starting first with Alf and me.

I wish you all the joy I’ve had

More of the good less of the bad

Enjoy yor life – you’ve only one

Make most of it – have lots of fun.

Our wish Dear Lena is to see

Continued enhanced mobility

Keeping still your joie de vie

Breaking records - longevity

Naples Florida

Naples is a special place

Verdant, flowers grace every space

Winding roads, a pleasing drive

Speed limits low, arrive alive

Remnants too of Everglades

Horizon glows as daylight fades

Long legged herons fish in ponds

Palm trees wave their graceful fronds

Vacationers make for the beach

Umbrellas, seats and towels in reach

Downtown for St. Pat’s parade

Studio tour where art is made

Entertainment at the ‘Phil’

Fine shows, great performers , thrill

The sporty types can parasail

Swim, fish, golf and cycle trail

Outside city, easy reach

Alternatives to sandy beach

Immokalee for gambling places

Ft. Myers for the greyhound races

Former days some things we miss

The Chickee Bar, a place of bliss

The Dinner Theatre see great show

Fish restaurant can no longer go

Pelicans deserve a word

An etraordinary bird

Roosting on piles, ungainly seem

Gliding though they are a dream

Circling thermals up they rise

In flight they dominate the skies

Then in line they float away

Effortless at end of day

The weather it is called benign

Warm and sunny – very fine

Then to avoid monotony

A storm blows up to stir the sea

Waves crash on shore with lots of foam

With tropic rain – a run for home

Mighty clouds and rainbows too

As blue skies start peeping through

For those who have a Nature bent

The region it is heaven sent

Birds and insects, reptiles see

Dolphins, porpoises, manatee

From light pollution can be free

In Everglades or out to sea

A Universe fills sky at night

For City folk a rare seen sight

Stars, constellations, Milky Way

Planetary motions all in play

The Moon and Venus brightly shine

While jets trace out a steamy line

So many things to see and do

All too soon vacation through

Returning to our other world

Into urban turmoil hurled

Living Space

World population growing fast

Implications of this are vast

Number projections very wide

Thrity billion the upside

Numbers such as this must scare

Starvation anarchy everywhere

Well before this number reached

Nuclear arsenal unbreached

If devastation to avoid

All our wits must be employed

Providing food for everyone

Controlling violence; having fun

Now the babies that arrive

With medics help more stay alive

Doctors thus affect the plan

By extending our life span

Knowledge clearly is the need

Controlling numbers that we feed

Women’s education key

Improving world prosperity

Double brainpower then applied

When new ways to work are tried

Statistics show where women free

A fall in fertility we see

  

Some religions play an adverse role

More supporters is their goal

Sad cultural influence is at work

Male domination gone berserk

Following blindly present  trend

Global anarchy is the end

Cultural change is very slow

Now the time right seeds to sow

What scope, what opportunity

Might lie ahead if all agree

On technology to focus

Not on wishful hocus pocus

Scientists success to increase yields

Applied techniques to farmers fields

Chemicals in great array

Playing now with DNA

Downsides to this some people see

Hot topic and controversy

There are other ways could try

To ncrease smart the food supply

We live in globe that’s most exotic,

Surface mainly is aquatic

From pressures on the land be free

We must find way to farm the sea

  

Fish farms now all hug the coast

Caging specieis that they host

Production there we must constrain

If disease wish to contain

Open ocean – waters warm

Is not a place where fishes swarm

Phytoplankton feeds food chain

Need to focus on their reign

Scientific test have clearly shown

Phyto flourish where iron sown

Archaic history still has say

Dictated by their DNA

Fish need natural food to flourish

Food chain phytoplankton nourish

Complex system – need be clear

What doing when we interfere

Can I present to you the notion

Cultivate the global ocean

Living in or on high seas

Building new economies

Until our numbers start to shrink

New food production have to think

This leads me to another theme

Of a new and different World to dream.

Rhyme, Time, Sublime

My Aunt Ethel likes to hide

Her talents bottled up inside

I’m glad to say we see at last

Evidence of potential vast

For this Anthology – our thanks

High in our treasured things it ranks

Her book of poems will survive

The imagery it comes alive

Never have I before heard

Better use of English word

Observations they are fine

Weather, Romans, bread & wine

Relatives have I by scores

Talented at many chores

Some can paint and some can sing

Some have had a little fling

Aunt Ethel has a rarer skill

Poetic words bend to her will

Imagination in full flight

Aided by observant sight

History, knowledge to combine

Visions conjured up divine

Narrative does smoothly flow

Words that make the vision glow

The choice of words, the meter too

Combine to get the message through

This poetry it is also great

Our memory to stimulate

Those beauteous moments from the past

Captured in a textural cast

We hope that you will more create

Help us this world appreciate

Detailing since in frenzied flight

We do not see - sad oversight

As well to slow the pace pell-mell

This poetry helps my doggerel.

Michael

May 2000