| Together they worked, raised family, gardened, walked, befriended.... |
In gratitude to my neighbors and friends Dennis Huggins and his wife, Jan (née Mayberry) Huggins, for a handsome house-number sign they had made for my wife and me, I composed this sestina in September last year and presented it to them in recitation and by framed printed copy. The Huggins kindly gave me permission to post the sestina here.
It was of course his fam’ly, Dennis’s,
And all four hands have worked throughout their life
tending friends, another sort of garden.
How many signs have their hands made of house
numbers for their friends’ front yards, with Dennis
measuring and sawing the wood, and Jan
affixing numerals? So now, on our walks,
We – and others who pass our house on walks –
admire the sign they made, enriching life.
Which Huggins loves music more? Is it Jan,
thinking life without music no garden?
But blue country sounds rate high with Dennis;
both dear Huggins want music in their house.
And both vote for candidates for the House
who promise progress in the Nation’s walks.
Their case is adroitly put by Dennis,
who views both state and nation chief in life,
tending both as essential a garden
as does his devoutly Democratic Jan.
Welcome to their lovely home, whether Jan
is the Huggins who opens up their house
and lets you in to their inner garden,
or – if she took Betty Lou out to walk –
you should be greeted entry to their life
by the no less loving Huggins: Dennis.
Running into Jan enriches our walks,
and entering their house rewards our life,
as may our garden for her and Dennis.*
_______________
* October 10 correction: The following later version of the final line appeared by mistake in the October 4 posting:
that gave his wife her surname. And so, Jan,
for better (not worse), is ‘Huggins’ in life.
Together they raised family, kept house,
retired together to almost daily walks
with their Betty Lou, who joined them in their garden.
Their hands together worked: In the garden
digging, hoeing, raking, tilling, Dennis
maybe more the heavy stuff. On their walks,
either’s hand holds leash of Betty Lou. Jan’s
hands may be the ones do most inside the house,
as they did with children too – such is life.
And all four hands have worked throughout their life
tending friends, another sort of garden.
How many signs have their hands made of house
numbers for their friends’ front yards, with Dennis
measuring and sawing the wood, and Jan
affixing numerals? So now, on our walks,
We – and others who pass our house on walks –
admire the sign they made, enriching life.
Which Huggins loves music more? Is it Jan,
thinking life without music no garden?
But blue country sounds rate high with Dennis;
both dear Huggins want music in their house.
And both vote for candidates for the House
who promise progress in the Nation’s walks.
Their case is adroitly put by Dennis,
who views both state and nation chief in life,
tending both as essential a garden
as does his devoutly Democratic Jan.
Welcome to their lovely home, whether Jan
is the Huggins who opens up their house
and lets you in to their inner garden,
or – if she took Betty Lou out to walk –
you should be greeted entry to their life
by the no less loving Huggins: Dennis.
Running into Jan enriches our walks,
and entering their house rewards our life,
as may our garden for her and Dennis.*
_______________
* October 10 correction: The following later version of the final line appeared by mistake in the October 4 posting:
as we hope ours does for her and Dennis.
| Copyright © 2021 by Moristotle |
I noticed today that the final line of the poem (the third line of its envoi) does not include the word “garden.” I had forgotten my decision to let ours stand for “our garden” (and “our house”), to balance the Huggins’ garden and house, which had previously been referred to as theirs. I think this works, but I’m not sure.
ReplyDelete