Mourning on the Hill

“The Road Not Taken” will be pulled from the shelf today as an apology and an explanation.

The hawk was already on the wild cherry limb when the sun cleared the horizon. It came on quickly like a stage spotlight capturing this major actor of the morning playing out on the Hill.

A squirrel found the peanut ring empty, so moved on to the bird feeder. Another of his clan was stripping the bark off a fallen poplar limb. It was among the limbs that fell on a recent windy day. I am not sure if the bark is for substance or subsistence. The recent winds likely created a need for patching up squirrel homesteads a bit.

An 1883 map of the county identifies our plot as Poplar Hill. There weren’t any poplars when we arrived, but we planted a few. They are an interesting tree. They are for the most part self-sufficient. The leaves, twirly seeds, and limbs fall as needed. Then the caretaker picks up the limbs and mulches the leaves for the benefit of the grass and critters that live in the soil.

I don’t name all the deer that come around. But one day when I was feeling Adam-like I named a small doe. I call her Pookie. She brings a smile to my face and heart. She is the first to show up for corn. Some days she is pushed away. She is a loner or an outcast. But she usually gets her fill.

The only other deer named on the Hill is Gimpy. Her right leg doesn’t bend. She was named for the “Gimp” on the Deadwood television series. She has been around for a couple of years. This year she showed up with two little ones in tow, and on any given day she shows up with four to six young deer. I think she takes on orphans. Yet, it might also be that despite her bum leg, she can shake the hell out of a bird feeder to the benefit of her charges. She looks like a ballerina balancing on her back legs, stretching to the feeder.

I reflect on these things this morning to dampen the news that Jimmy Carter is dead. We all knew it was coming. I shared the joy when he lived long enough to vote for a woman presidential candidate. As I have found joy in following President Carter over the years.

I attended his inauguration. I switched to independent when democrats and Americans did him wrong. For two decades, I was politically active on Capitol Hill and working for a union. I volunteered to work on a Habitat for Humanity house in rural West Virginia with him in mind.

I now brace myself for a salvo of tributes for a life and virtues supposedly admired but not practiced. Surely, “The Road Not Taken” will be pulled from the shelf to be an apology and an explanation.

Meanderings:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken

https://historicshepherdstown.com/

Numerous checks for proper word, meaning and spelling

Bing AI Image Creator art from the prompt “bare poplar tree black and white sun peeking from mountain”