Glory Days In Schomberg
Dad
worked the farm
hours long and hard
from the days of Clydesdales and
shocking the wheat by hand
to harvesting corn and oats with
huge green yellow-lettered John Deere combines
following line after line
in the fields of our farm.
At the end of a day
he was tired.
But I remember
when I was five
the evening he played catch with us and
threw the baseball like a pro
arcing it through the air to my brother
under the light of the pole lamp
in our front yard .
I remember
that night
for its June bugs
and
fireflies
and
baseball
in our front yard
with
Dad.

Patricia Anne McGoldrick is a Kitchener Ontario writer whose poetry and reviews have been published in the Christian Science Monitor, The WM Review Connection, and most recently at ChapterandVerse.ca, a review of the award-winning, Plain Kate. History, literature, the environment and upcycling resources for bookmaking are active interests and often the focus of her blog posts. Patricia is a member of The Ontario Poetry Society and the League of Canadian Poets. You can find her on her website and blog or follow her on Twitter.
Just lovely ! The movement from the expansiveness of the farm – Clysdales and combines “line after line in the fields” of your farm – the grand scope and his tiredness at days end – zooming in to the achingly personal a father, not just throwing the ball, but throwing it like ‘”a pro” the light of the pole lamp, your brother and five year old you on a June firelit night ….is magically exquisite – moving from the virtually omniscient world view to the deeply personal thump of the arcing ball in the evening light – the adoration clear – the love close enough to touch as is that five-year-old little girl. A wonderful poem – please publish
Pearl, I am deeply moved by your comments. This small fragment of memory has stayed with me since I was a child & has taken on an added meaning since one of my four brothers died a couple of weeks ago. Thanks gain for stopping by to read my poem.