Stoking the Poetry Flame
Andrea Louise Ambler
Illustrator Christine J. Curry
Welsie
Great grandpa Welsie Edward Bredahl sat on his old tractor,
In River Falls, Wisconsin
Enjoying the scent of a freshly lit cigar.
He wore blue overalls and a straw bowler
Banded with black grosgrain.
He was a mountain of a man with a hearty laugh.
His blue eyes reflected
The fiords of his native land.
When he smiled, crinkles surrounded his eyes
His skin was tan from the rays of the hot Wisconsin sun.
He ate all his meals after chores were done-breakfast
After sunup; dinner before sundown.
The pennies bouncing around in his back pocket
Were for good children.
His major crop was happiness,
And he harvested it for those he loved.
Ryan Ford