Meeting a Lady

One morning mid December, Owen, Karen, and I took a stroll in our neighbourhood here in the Village of Oak Creek. Our destination being an outdoor artisans fair. A couple of blocks into our walk, I noticed a little lady that was coming towards us, cane in hand. As we were passing I paused and said hello, commenting on the lovely day. She stopped and we began to have a courtious chat. You know the kind. She was 77 and talked about living in Sedona for the past 17 years and how her husband had driven trucks cross country for a living prior to his retirement. At least 10 minutes must have passed and as we were about to depart, she asked if I liked to read poetry. What was there to say? 'Ofcourse, I read some poetry and would be delighted to take away one of hers.' There was a white business size envelope with a small clothes line type clip attaching the envelope to the chain around her neck. From it she produced a printed one page copy of a poem. Her name was Pat Stull and she wrote it after accompaning her husband on one of his road trips. She said she hadn't gone on many trips with him and this was either the first or one of the first. I realized later that perhaps she had suffered a stroke at some point in recent years.

Below is a copy of her poem. Enjoy. We did.

TRAINEE RIDER

Here I sit in the shotgun seat, western boots upon my feet.

Passing trucks (I think that's neat!) then I call out "All's Clear!"

Straw hat on to beat the heat. Pillows prop up my physique,

To view the scene for my critique, then I call out "All's Clear!"

The overpass is rather low, the driver takes it very slow.

I check the 'stacks' to let him know, that "All is Clear!"

The driver shifts his load to scale. (if overweight, a fine or jail!)

His fifth wheel slides on double rails, then I call out "All's Clear!"

The 'chicken coops' are closed up tight. We rumble on thru the night.

And when that cop car's out of sight, then I call out "All's Clear!"

The drivers backs up to the dock. I jump out and unlatch the lock,

Open the doors and the wheels I chock, then I call out "All's Clear!"

The parking lot is overflowing. The driver has no way of knowing,

If his trailer end is showing, 'til I cal out "All's Clear!"

The driver is the best (I boast) he's always on time - well almost!

I raise my glass and drink a toast, then murmur "All's Clear!"