My ever incredible and very talented poetic Grandpa read this aloud at our family’s going away party. Thank you, Grandpa Bill, we will forever cherish this poem in our hearts!
Goodbye to Steve and Kim
By Bill Niemeyer, July 20, 2018
Where’s the best place for a family to put down its roots,
Where the kids can prosper like healthy green shoots?
Exotic places in distant lands have their charms
But there’s also the change of unexpected harms,
Such as war and revolution and parasitic disease,
Where panic might follow a harmless sneeze.
Yet, here in the Southland we suffer congestion and heat,
And you’ve concluded staying would not be discrete.
You heard of a land to the North that is lush and green
Where natural beauty just waits to be seen.
Where the fish in the streams just hop in your pan,
And the weather seldom requires the use of a fan.
Then, we told you that in winter, there’s ice and snow,
And buckets of rain that make your driving slow,
Where, if you stop moving you’ll then suffer a loss,
Because you’ll quickly be covered in thick green moss.
And, even if you take precautions and cry and sulk,
In a year your car will be reduced to a rusted hulk.
Then there’s the wild blackberry vines that grow so high
If you don’t cut them often they’ll blot out the sky.
It’ gloomy and wintery most of the year,
With frequent occasions to use your survival gear.
But, then, in the Spring, when the sun finally returns,
For a few days, nature is glorious and erases concerns.
Well, my negative thoughts you have branded a lie,
Even though I’m mostly considered a truthful guy.
But, in this case, I must confess to an ethical failure,
As black as any committed by a drunken sailor.
The thought of your leaving just made me fib,
For it was as emotionally painful as the loss of a rib.
But, you never swallowed my gloomy description,
You knew right away it was an exaggerated depiction.
Now, you’ll soon be off to a new adventure,
And your lives will be filled with experiences to treasure.
So, go with our blessing, and find your way,
And know, for your success, we will faithfully pray.
Thanks for the kind words, Kim. Just thought that I should point out that line 8 omits the word “not” before “be discrete.”
We definately cant have a typo for such a grand poem!