Notes About The Poem
WRITTEN AUGUST 30th 2026.
Epiphany
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Nothing is given for free, you must work hard for it and the good things will come later in life.
Quote by poet.
I lived in a small town in Colorado called Manitou Springs at the foot of Pikes Peak with my wife and ten-year-old daughter. We weren't rich but we got by, my wife worked part time in the local store to help make ends meet.
My dad had a farm but at eighty-four years of age was now too old to work it, he rented out his fields to adjacent farms, so he was quite comfortable.
Dad was a veteran of the second world war and was a paratrooper in the D-day landings, he never really opened up about his experience but would often just stare off into space but we didn't disturb him, then in the blink of an eye would bounce back to the present like nothing had happened.
He was a wise man and loved doing jigsaws and crosswords, "You have to push yourself" he'd often say to me. One other thing he'd often say was, "Nothing is given for free, you must work hard for it and good things will come later in life" I wasn't too sure what he meant by that.
I was just locking up after a day's work at the garage I co-owned when my cell phone rang, it was Dr Andrews urging me to get over to my dad's farm.
I arrived and Molly, Dad's neighbour who looked in on him daily had found him on the floor, I went into Dad's bedroom, and he was lying there but awake.
"Hi son, I'm glad you got here on time, I've not long for this earth but I'm happy I'll be soon joining your mom". I sat by his bed and held his hand he gave a faint smile closed his eyes and five minutes later he was gone.
We held his funeral a week later and we buried him with Mom; he was well liked in the community and there was quite a large crowd to say farewell.
Dad had made a will, and his lawyer Pete Jacobs called me in to his office a week later.
It was pretty straightforward, the farm and everything he owned he left to me, "Thanks Pete " I said and got up to go, "Hang fire" he said, "There's something else", he handed me a brown envelope that bore my name.
I drove over to Dad's farm and let myself in, I wasn't sure if I'd keep it or make a go of it.
I went out onto the porch and sat in his rocking chair and opened the envelope, there was one sheet of paper that said, nothing is given for free, you must work hard for it and the good things will come later in life.
Below the writing it said WW RB WW and below the RB was an X, I hadn't a clue what it meant, was it a cryptic message of some kind.?
I drove home and showed it to my wife, and she just shook her head saying, "You know your dad, he loved puzzles and working out cryptic messages”.
We discussed our future and decided we'd make a go of the farm and we knew we'd struggle at first building our livestock up from scratch. We moved out of our townhouse and put it up for sale and moved to the farm.
One evening I was sat on the porch which was at the back of the house, and I was just admiring the view, there was a stream the other side of a few trees with a couple of rose bushes and evergreens.
I got to thinking how Dad would sit out here where I am now and how peaceful it must have been for him, then the letter he'd left me came to mind ,I still wondered what it meant.
I went into the house to get it and took it out of the envelope to look at it and as I lifted up my eyes it was if someone had shone a bright light on me, No, it can't be I thought, but something clicked in my mind, two weeping willows and between them was a rose bush, WW RB WW. ,I shouted out for my wife who came running, "What's wrong"? she said.
I pointed at the two weeping willows, and she looked at me with a blank expression, "Dad's cryptic message" I said.
I went to the shed for a shovel and started digging in front of the rose bush, the sweat was running down my face, I stopped for a break and had dug down about two foot and there was nothing, I carried on digging another foot and then hit something metallic.
"Eureka"I said, "I've found it, whatever it is", my wife started laughing and said, "Maybe its Blackbeard's treasure".
I dug a bit more and saw it was a large metal box about two-foot square and a foot in depth.
I reached down but couldn't move it, It must have been buried a long time, I knew Dad's tractor still worked because he often lent it to his neighbours.
I went to the tractor shed and drove it into the garden, fixed a chain around the box and after a few attempts managed to bring it to the surface. I brushed away the dirt and could make out US Army stamped on the lid.
I went off to get a lump hammer and chisel and broke of the rusted padlock. I prised open the lid and let out a gasp as did my wife, in the box were hundreds of gold coins with an eagle on one side and a swastika on the other.
Then I remembered my dad with a smile on his face saying " Nothing is given for free, you must work hard for it and the good things will come later in life"
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