Yep--poet and poker player Cal Bush IS still handsome!
Saturday, October 1, 2011
This time of year gets a little crazy—my son’s golf season zooms by in a blur—and along with his Homecoming events, his birthday, my parents’ visit, my dad’s traditional fall cold and—oh, yeah—my job, I don’t get to the Soldiers Home as often as I should.
Which makes it even more special when the Soldiers Home comes to me.
Today I got my weekly Soldiers Home mailing. I usually just zip through it to check on residents’ birthdays and last-minute Bingo changes, but today I lingered on “Chaplain’s Corner," in which Pastor Dale Stol wrote, “The other day Caleb Bush allowed me to borrow a book of poems he wrote over the years.” Stol reprinted one, titled “Memories of a Wedding,” that restored all the Soldiers Home joy that last Bingo session sucked out of me.
I’ve always loved Cal’s intelligence, spirit and sense of humor—but I never suspected he had the heart of a poet. (“Fought a bear with a hair brush” is one of my favorite lines anywhere.) What a lovely surprise.
Memories of a Wedding
by Cal Bush
Hope you didn’t notice the tremble in my voice, or the shaking of my hands.
My knees were waffling and I could hardly stand.
I have slain the dragon,
I have seen the world.
In fact there was a time I could have rode the wind,
Roped the moon, scaled a mountain,
Fought a bear with a hair brush.
All this for you.
But it sure was hard to stand in front of a preacher and say “I do!”
I can joke about it now and I often do,
But I still remember the way I shook when I married you.
When it was over, I swallowed with relief.
That was 14 years ago in Midwest Omaha.
You’ve gotten a little older, I’ve turned a little gray.
You’re still beautiful and I’m just as handsome as on our wedding day.
This time of year gets a little crazy—my son’s golf season zooms by in a blur—and along with his Homecoming events, his birthday, my parents’ visit, my dad’s traditional fall cold and—oh, yeah—my job, I don’t get to the Soldiers Home as often as I should.
Which makes it even more special when the Soldiers Home comes to me.
Today I got my weekly Soldiers Home mailing. I usually just zip through it to check on residents’ birthdays and last-minute Bingo changes, but today I lingered on “Chaplain’s Corner," in which Pastor Dale Stol wrote, “The other day Caleb Bush allowed me to borrow a book of poems he wrote over the years.” Stol reprinted one, titled “Memories of a Wedding,” that restored all the Soldiers Home joy that last Bingo session sucked out of me.
I’ve always loved Cal’s intelligence, spirit and sense of humor—but I never suspected he had the heart of a poet. (“Fought a bear with a hair brush” is one of my favorite lines anywhere.) What a lovely surprise.
Memories of a Wedding
by Cal Bush
Hope you didn’t notice the tremble in my voice, or the shaking of my hands.
My knees were waffling and I could hardly stand.
I have slain the dragon,
I have seen the world.
In fact there was a time I could have rode the wind,
Roped the moon, scaled a mountain,
Fought a bear with a hair brush.
All this for you.
But it sure was hard to stand in front of a preacher and say “I do!”
I can joke about it now and I often do,
But I still remember the way I shook when I married you.
When it was over, I swallowed with relief.
That was 14 years ago in Midwest Omaha.
You’ve gotten a little older, I’ve turned a little gray.
You’re still beautiful and I’m just as handsome as on our wedding day.
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