Poem of The Week
This is a poem that I wrote for my dear friend Pie Edwards, a long time waterman. I thought this to be an appropriate time since we celebrated his 90th birthday last week. Happy Birthday Pie.
The Razing of Waterman’s Wharf
For Pie Edwards* (a brother) by H. E. McIntyre
Pilings planks and rusting nails
Decking, ramps and sagging rails
Bleached wood weathered by wind and rain
Shorings tested by ice remain
I’d known this pier in younger days
With work boats moored in grand arrays.
Skipjacks, bugeyes and rowing skiffs
From Chester’s waters to Calvert’s cliffs
Steamboats plied the upper bay
In a harsh but gentler day
From dawn to dusk boats worked the scene
The wharf back then was crisp and clean.
A dilapidated wooden shack stood there
On those pilings cracked and bare
A common refuge for anyone
From wind and rain or heat of sun
Waterman sat and checkers played
Telling stories as the old pier swayed.
Most times I’d peak through an old knot hole
Overhearing secrets, lies and tall tales told
I’d almost hear a mumble, then a hearty laugh
I think they knew I hid there and did it on my behalf
Ghosts still haunt my aging memory
Of times gone by when I was young and free.
Of ‘Scratch’ and ‘Hip’, ‘Tater’ and ‘Pie’
They all had sworn they’d never told a willful lie
But I remember the stories and yarns they told
My memory was much better then at eight years old
I still see the flying fishes,
Monsters, mermaids and snickered wishes.
I now stand and watch through tear filled eyes
As a dear old friend is razed and dies
Along with open fields and trees
Once a source of childhood memories
Now tract houses and a shopping mall
A monument to progress for us all.
2/26/06