There are some things in this world
Few people ever see,
Like the Northern Lights
On a cloudless night
Such wonders, a rarity.
Halley's Comet twice in one life
(Not again 'til 2061);
Fifty blue moons,
A blizzard in June
Or a total eclipse of the sun.
A grand-slam win for your home team
With your beloved at bat
And you in the stands,
A hot dog in hand
And a camera recording the fact.
Witnessing both the high and low
From one point in Panamint Range;
A 12 percent gain
In a single day
On the New York Stock Exchange.
Two rainbows nestled together
And seeing them end to end;
Rare events,
Coincidence?
I say miracles He has penned.
But of all the things I can fathom
That I may ever see,
One stands out
Without a doubt
As the rarest event to me.
One thing I thought would never occur,
One thing, with certainty!
Why, to even suggest
You must be distressed
To think so foolishly!
But here I stand before you
In our paper this very day,
To share the word
Of what's occurred,
And the news I can relay.
For from the tiny town of Piggott
I've received a note, perplexed;
The stars aligned,
I've blown my mind,
'Cause Uncle Ronnie has learned to text.
No punctuation, no capitalized words,
Few words at all, in fact.
Just his thoughts let go
In abbreviated flow
From a flip phone, how 'bout that!
His ringtone is of a donkey
Braying in the field,
And in the dell
It's hard to tell,
If it's the phone or it's for real.
I get pictures of calves and critters
Moments after their birth,
With dates and times
And weights and size,
Proud papa of farm and dirt.
He sends me notes on this and that,
Of cows or cats or trees;
A random thought
On his mind, naught,
If he doesn't tell me now, it'll flee.
And likewise, I reciprocate
With jokes to make him smile,
Or answer when
I'll be comin' in
To visit for a little while.
No stars aligned or moons of blue
Could ever more thrill me,
Than that man grinnin' wide
With hopes runnin' high
Asking, "Does this phone come in John Deere green?"
NAN Our Town on 06/16/2016