Honorable Mention | “Cape Sandy Home”

“CAPE SANDY HOME”
Sellersburg, Indiana
Glenn Hockersmith

There on the banks, beyond the bend in the river
Lay a welcome respite, only God could deliver
To the men on the boats, it must have seemed an oasis
The clanking of bottles, and the well painted faces
The promise of touch, a little rest for the weary
Whose eyes, like the water, were blurry and bleary

Time reduced the house, to a shell of itself
In long distant echoes, contained it’s shadowy wealth
Then, up from the bottoms, it rose with great might
With wings like a phoenix, destined for flight
In exchange for the fruit, borne by the land
Came offerings of sweat, and callus worn hands

Take me back to Cape Sandy, let me roam
Where the spirits of the past make their home
It’s much better out there, just let me go
The air’s better out there, just let me go

From the old dining room, where the table lay set
Drift inaudible voices, of those we’ve not met
From the walls of the Ship Room, at the top of the stairs
Hang watercolor paintings, of trees, sunlight and air
A toad croaks in the dawn, with a low toned inflection
Becomes one with the pond, a shattered reflection

Wonders imagined, through the eyes of a child
Who conquered that river, when the current was mild
To the rugged terrain, youth would not yield
But flowed with the wind, through the blades upon fields
The Peckinpaughs rest, at the gravel road’s end
A reminder that time, has neither foe nor a friend

So take your troubles to Cape Sandy, let’em rest
Where the eagle and the red-tail make their nest
It’s much better out there, just let me go
The air’s better out there, just let me go

Whether a ride in the wagon, or a jaunt after dark
On the canvas of the soul, this farm leaves it’s mark
When the lane is snowed over, or traversed by a tree
You are not trapped, but from the trappings you’re free
Though the heron stands stoic, and coyotes still roam
The presence of family, makes Cape Sandy your home