Best Bernardino Poems
William Harrison Hardy
1823 - 1906
I believe a fair introduction is in order here.
Not that a handshake from me could ever take place anytime soon.
I was Captain Bill Hardy:
Proud Indian fighter!
And celebrated toll road builder!
I was the one who built the big road
From San Bernardino to Prescott Arizona!
And it was I, Captain Bill Hardy,
Who founded old Hardyville in Arizona
On the sandy banks of the cool Colorado.
Back when Lincoln was still warm
And the blood of Gettysburg was still not dry.
Back when the old west was coming alive
With wagon wheels and railroad ties.
Growing as a child would
With intrepid enterprise and such derring-do
The likes of which few eyes have seen since!
I came out west from New York
As Captain of a California-bound wagon train
And found a fortune in gold in Placer County.
But it was in the Arizona Territory where I later
Made my mark, and lost my fortune.
Oh my friends. I found out.
Found out what plain hard work can accomplish
And I learned of its resultant riches.
I found out.
Found out what plain greed and dishonesty can accomplish
And I learned of its resultant poverty.
Alas, I was but a survivor in life,
And that was my final legacy.
My friends, have you ever stared death straight in the face?
Have you ever seen the eyes of a wanton murderer
Only an inch away from your own eyes?
Nothing is more frightening and more sobering than that!
But I, Captain Bill Hardy, at your service please,
Experienced it first-hand that day in the scalding desert sand.
That Indian devil was right there!
His nose next to my nose!
But I got away!
Ran away from that place and lived to tell about it!
My friends, next time you come to Clark Cemetery in Whittier,
Go to the eastern fence by Dorland Street,
At the corner there, you will find my little plot of land.
It is a far cry from having an entire city named after you!
But it is a fine and restful spot.
Come closer and lean down to me.
I wish to extend my firm handshake to you all!
Another shooting
steals many innocent souls
in California.
How many more lives
must be lost before we stop
this gun craziness?
Citizens do not
need machine guns and armor
to live peacefully.
Stop the madness of
angry folk taking their spite
out on the blameless.
I lay in my hospital bed
knowing in a day or two I’ll be dead
because that’s what the doctor said
my body crushed from toe to head
in the auto accident the other day
you see I drank too many drinks
before I drove home
now I lay here all alone
thinking of the life
that I’ll never live
and the love to my wife
and children I’ll never give
I’m still a young man only 33
I had so much life ahead of me
now never to walk in the park again
never to talk and have fun with my friends again
my work was just taking shape
and all the money I’ll never spend
now that my life has come to a sudden end
how will my family survive
I won’t be here to see my children grow
or ever hear them say again
daddy I love you so
all because of my thoughtless act
to drink and drive
the doctors told me about an hour ago
you also killed a lady in the accident
if I meet her on the other side what will I say
I’m sorry that when we met you died
and left behind a husband and a child
who also needed you so I don’t know
the very thought of my thoughtless act
is killing me as well
I know my destiny is hell
as death stands patiently at the foot of my bed
to take me away the moment I’m dead
my name is not to be known
because my name could be your own
I have only one last thought to leave before I die
for God's sake and one ones you leave behind
please don't drink and drive
this poem was written by me a long time ago
my hope is that this poem will stop and make people
think about drinking and driving
actually this poem came to me one day while I was
driving on the San Bernardino Freeway in West Covina Ca.
it was so powerful and over whelming that I had no choice but to write it down
the next day a story appearded in the news paper about a
young man who died in the West Covina Hospital because of
a drinking and driving auto accident
He salutes the mountains Tehachapi to the west
San Gabriel and San Bernardino to the south
This is his rite of passage
His coming of age
How he’s yearned
For his spiritual journey
To become a man
Thirsting to prove his bravery
Alone he wanders the barren Mojave
Facing the elements
And challenges head on
Datura in hand for nights of visions
He'll forge his unique one-on-one bond
With the universe and its mysteries
Bam bam bam echoes of drumming
Till the spirits of his ancestors
The lingering chants of Navaho
Guide him to the oasis of manhood
AP: Honorable Mention 2020, Honorable Mention 2020
Submitted on October 22, 2018 for contest MID OCTOBER 2018 sponsored by BRIAN STRAND - RANKED 1ST
(In the early years of the 16th century,
the artist Pinturicchio was employed by
Cardinal Piccolomini to decorate the
library of Siena Cathedral with fresco
scenes from the life of his ancestor, Enea.)
The Contract
The Cardinal requires Ser Bernardino,
as high contracting party to the tasks,
to paint ten histories in damasceno,
in gold, vermilion: also asks
that other pleasing colours be employed,
the whole to be so handsome, beautiful
and lively, as will fill the present void
with fantasies. He should be dutiful
and diligent, and supervise the work.
Designs will all reveal The Master's hand
(though pupils may fill spaces). He'll not shirk
in imitating latest fashions. And
(this is insisted on) the Master shan't
dodge off to paint some panel here or there,
but shall remain engaged on this. He can't
retouch, restore, revivify, repair
or otherwise (without grave loss of honour)
adapt, adulterate, or amplify
some tuppeny hapenny Umbrian Madonna,
without The Cardinal demanding why.
The frescoes should contain protagonists
appropriate to the life herein depicted,
with landscapes, trees and mountains, mists
and such (for instance, like the storm inflicted
on Enea by the gods at Piombino).
Each pose and gesture, such as may amuse
and fascinate. This done, Ser Bernardino
may add whatever detail he may choose.
The Master binds himself and his garzoni
to purchase olive oil and best verdicchio,
all flour, figs, cheese, fruit, maccaroni,
with vouchers I'll supply. Signed, Pinturicchio.
ROUND WORLD NO SIDES
Tragically, while our country's weep,
we'll be nice to Nice, and hold up France.
We are bruised and beaten bloody red,
holding down Baton Rouge's dismal stance.
The children fall and forever sleep
in Nice, they're cold in Sandy Hook.
Adults are lost in Bernardino,
Orlando, and everywhere we look.
Whose turn is next to be a black sheep,
typecast by color and then oppressed?
Carnage of Cowboys and Indians,
now play Cops and Robbers out west.
What are the religions we should keep,
in belief of one or many gods?
Religions for good and for the love
are together, viciously at odds.
Broadcasts of NASA with a furtive peek,
we seek aliens so benevolent.
in ignorance and dull denial,
that on earth we are malevolent.
Political hatred, yes we heap,
on friend, neighbor, sister or brother.
In slander and in backbiting brawl,
proving we don't love one another.
When do we all take that quantum leap,
learning about compassion faster?
If we see that we each own ourselves,
will there be need for slave or master?
By Edlynn Nau
© July 19, 2016
The Horror of San Bernardino
By Franklin Price
12/4/2015
The horror of San Bernardino
With celebration in the air
A pair without good reason
Killed and wounded many there
No doubt the killers Muslim
Part of a rising trend
Must destroy the Muslim radicals
Bring this terror to an end
Can't wait another moment
Must come up with a plan
To stop other heartless killers
Make all efforts that we can
Must analyze the causes
For the needless killing there
Must eliminate the reasons
Yet proceed somewhat with care
For not all Muslims radical
No matter what we think
The majority are innocents
Not all to terror linked
If we make the wrong decisions
And we target Muslims all
We'll worsen the conditions
Have nothing left to break the fall
The leaders of good Muslims
Must come out and make a stand
Condemn the killing radicals
Must help stop them we demand
If they don't soon stand up
Maybe I'm not thinking right
Maybe they are closet terrorists
Waiting to join a losing fight
Lumbar ladies stroll by as the night sedans plunder the ho-dad hostels.
Looking to find nothing except another dozing cigarette beyond the cadenzas.
Another hot afternoon in suburbia with the repeated barkings of a distant dog.
Billy boy in his red asphalt-eating machine turns the dial to San Bernardino.
There is cool music bobbing in the hot accepting winds, south of Dragons Head.
In smoggy Corona, the dizzy Volkswagens travel in circles like demented dogs.
Billy boy guns the engine as he and the Mexican chick cruise in a ’67 beetle.
They pass the Chuck Wagon, as Slim Harpo melts the sun with Little Liza Jane.
Traffic signals, and the elderberry trees, pretend to dance to the muted cadences.
The hot afternoon winds play their own love-games as Billy boy comes to a stop.
Brown-eyed señorita with long hair flowing tells Billy boy to turn up the sound.
‘Music is life,’ she says, as the red asphalt-eating machine turns left at 6th Street.
Lumbar ladies stroll by now as the night sedans receive the night’s embrace.
At City Park, Billy and his latin lady sleep soundly in the cottonwood darkness.
yesterday was last year,today clay promises lay broken upon the party floor,we awaken hungover to death crying as liquor induced wishes help us cope with this new year,are we mad dogs chasing our own tales?while San bernardino cries and Paris weeps.
R-est
U-ntil
B-rand new home
E-ndows long life,
N-ice place and delight free of pain and strife.
Topic: Death of Bro. Ruben Bernardino, Sr. (March 23, 2018)
Form: Acrostic Tetractys
The Cardinal requires Ser Bernardino,
as high contracting party to the tasks,
to paint ten histories in damasceno,
in gold, vermilion: also asks
that other pleasing colours be employed,
the whole to be so handsome, beautiful
and lively, as will fill the present void
with fantasies. He should be dutiful
and diligent, and supervise the work.
Designs will all reveal The Master’s hand
(though pupils may fill spaces). He’ll not shirk
in imitating latest fashions. And
(this is insisted on) the Master shan’t
dodge off to paint some panel here or there,
but shall remain engaged on this. He can’t
retouch, restore, revivify, repair
or otherwise (without grave loss of honour)
adapt, adulterate, or amplify
some tuppeny hapenny Umbrian Madonna,
without The Cardinal demanding why.
The frescoes should contain protagonists
appropriate to the life herein depicted,
with landscapes, trees and mountains, mists
and such (for instance, like the storm inflicted
on Enea by the gods at Piombino).
Each pose and gesture, such as may amuse
and fascinate. This done, Ser Bernardino
may add whatever detail he may choose.
The Master binds himself and his garzoni
to purchase olive oil and best verdicchio,
all flour, figs, cheese, fruit, maccaroni,
with vouchers I’ll supply. Signed, Pinturicchio.
F-ind
L-oveliness
O-nce
R-ay
A-nd
B-eacon
E-mit
L-ight
L-etting
B-eauty
E-xpose
R-adiant
N-iceness
A-s
R-ainy
D-arkness
I-s
N-ow
O-bliterated
Topic: Birthday of Florabell Bernardino (September 19)
Form: Vertical Monocrostic
R-adiant
A-tmosphere
Y-ou
B-ehold
E-rases
R-ainy
N-ight
A-s
R-esplendent
D-awn
I-s
N-aturally
O-pening
Topic: Birthday of Ray Bernardino (October 13)
Form: Vertical Monocrostic
N-ame
H-as
E-mployed
S-imple
B-irthday
E-vent's
R-apturous
N-ote
A-s
R-ighteous
D-edication
I-s
N-icely
O-ffered
Topic: Birthday of Nhes E. Bernardino (December 18)
Form: Vertical Monocrostic
M-orbid
A-ilment
R-eleases
Y-ucky
G-rime's
R-isk
A-pplying
C-ontagious
E-eriness
B-y
E-mploying
R-abid
N-astiness
A-s
R-ampaging
D-isease
I-mplements
N-otorious
O-rdeal
Topic: Birthday of Mary Grace P. Bernardino (June 07)
Form: Vertical Monocrostic