“I Shall Gather Up
by Athey Thompson
I shall
Gather up
All the lost souls
That wander this earth
All the ones that are alone
All the ones that are broken
All the ones that never really fitted in
I shall gather them all up
And together we shall find our home”
1.Guadalupe, Comal County, mostly 605 Elm, Street, Seguin
Betsy and I
Side by side
(Fifty years total)
1920’s Sears home
Beautiful wildflowers et al.
Thirteen lucky pecan trees towering over
Figs, loquats, other fruits
Raised bed greens, zanahorias, calabacitas, tomatoes, okra
A study full of books and much to learn
Thirty-five years of memories of Easters, Christmases,
Youthful learning
Venison backstrap and chili, Alsatian parisa, barbeques, tortilla soup,
Santiago Jimenez–many times married including a Seguinite–flirting with Betsy,
Americana music and Gruene Hall
And Landa Park
Freely bicycling all around
A home filled with so very, very much.
2. Medina and Wilson County, mostly a mile east of Devine on 173
Mom’s womb … It’s forever!
All the homegrown/wildgrown fruits, vegetables, milk, beef, pork, eggs, chicken
You’d ever want to eat
Plenty of work and out-in-Nature play
So many ways and much to learn
Socially, politically, ecologically, morally/ethically
And especially about self.
3. Campo Grande-Mato Grosso do Sul … and Rio, no Brasil
With family there, this would be number one
A good ethos of work-play balance
Joyful, loving misturas de gente
Bastante diversidade
Pão de queijo
Churrasco
Pudim mineiro
Priaias lindas
Foz Iguaçu
Futebol bonita
Saudades!!!!
4. Eaarth
For all its artificiality, synthetics, human-manufactured biocides, plastic,
Climate-changing freely-available extracted fossil energy
All its problematic challenges
Kids and grandkids who love very much … and some not so much
For all its “burros”
Despite overshoot and disparity and loss of biodiversity
And War, War, War!!!
It continues to reflect much human, biotic, biological joy and satisfaction
And beauty!
In so many ways.
pbm
( 7 S’s / VV->^^ )