At
six, the first that I recall,
Was
in a book for children, small,
A
bear who loved his friends and life,
Caused
no pain or hurt or strife!
At
eight, I moved to Nancy Drew,
And
Hardy Boys, to name a few,
And Trixie
Beldon, Ames girls, wow!
Were
certainly the cat’s meow!
From
there my heroes came and went,
But
mostly had a ‘horsey’ bent,
Alex
and Black, and Flicka, Ken,
Sham
and Agba, read again.
Then
others picked by happenstance
Until
I found Gothic romance.
Filled
with love and hate. Desire,
They
set my teenaged heart on fire!
I
read the classics, heroes there
Who managed
on a hope. And prayer,
Each
time I read with heart agape,
Of
daring deeds and tight escapes.
I
read a lot and wrote a bit,
Had
many heroes I admit,
But
none were greater, none more fair,
Than
that first, stuffed and ‘small-brained’ bear.
‘Tis
sixty years since last I stood,
With
Pooh in ‘Hundred Acre Wood’,
I
know this day’s for him, the bear
Who
gave such gentle, reasoned care,
Two
things of many that he said,
They’re
part of me, stuck in my head,
If
you don’t mind, ‘cause you’re my friend,
Instead
of hugs, these words I’ll send:
“If
there’s…a day…we can’t be together,
Keep
me in your heart and I’ll stay there forever!”
“If you live to…a hundred, I want that, less one
day,
So I’m never without you whenever I play!”
Cause Mondays do get knocked a lot,
Pooh still stands the test of time. And age!
ReplyDeleteWe had all the books, read all the books, even had a record with Jimmy Stewart doing the voice of Pooh. Such love flowed through our household, my brothers and I quoting the stories. Pooh lives on in my life.
ReplyDeleteSo sweet. I also love Winnie the Pooh. We need him more than ever these days!
ReplyDeleteThe books we read as very yoing stay inside us in a special way. This is a fabulous tribute to your childhood hero!.
ReplyDeleteCharming and loved the walk down literary memory lane!
ReplyDeleteLovely. Those early books 'stick' don't they. For me it was Kipling's Just So Stories. I can still recite great slabs of the stories therein - and revisit them most years.
ReplyDeleteA fascinating (and somewhat sad) backstory to Winnie the Pooh, too, I found out recently. But this is a series of stories that has stood the test of time (as the saying goes).
ReplyDeleteI have never read any Winnie-The-Pooh stories but now I'm going to have to.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully said.
ReplyDeleteWe have a "Complete Winnie-The-Pooh" book around here somewhere, it has all four books in one volume, and i want to go find it and flip through it before bed.
What a lovely poem. I think everyone has a soft spot for Winnie whatever their age. I'm sorry to miss out on a poem this week as, despite best efforts, I couldn't get any of my random thoughts to gel into a poem. I'm disappointed, as is such a lovely theme. Maybe some other time I'll manage to come up with something.
ReplyDelete