At 2 a.m. the engine hums & the road awaits his tread,
A departing message on the front door camera to his wife and two kids, as he slips away in dread.
The house is warm, the night is cold, his heart is torn in two, for love is here, but duty calls,
"its the career he chose afterall".
He knows the sound of silence well, when fathers must depart,
He lived it as a boy himself—those echoes scarred his heart.
Hi-Vis uniform, the heavy boots, cigarettes comfort the pain,
Now he repeats his father’s path, the cycle forged again.
He grips the wheel, his knuckles white, his head weighed down with ache!
Each road he drives a silent vow: “I do this for their sake.”
The Coal Mine swollows up his days, the dust, the grind,
A job at home is the dream he holds, to leave no
family need behind.
And though each departing cuts him deep mile by mile,
He builds a future, stone by stone, for those who make him smile.
A father’s burden, masked with pride, though loneliness may sting,
For in his sacrifice he gives his children everything.
Categories:
hudson, age, children, family, home,
Form: Rhyme
Communism on the Hudson
7/4/2025
Some Americans do not appeciate our land, until it
Is far, far too late,
Till our freedoms are gone and replaced by jealous
Communists at our gate!
You, who are aware, know exactly to whom who I mean.
Who will magically turn you into into a Communist king or queen?
True Americans are not Socialists, nor anything in between.
“ We get our powers from the consent of the governed”.
We are a people of many religions and colors.”
So in your honorable hands today, I encourage wave our colors of
Red, white and blue.
Or, plant one at a veterans grav, an unknown soldier,
Who gave his of her her life for you!
Stop, pleae stop, being afraid to write a beautiful
Political poem, where you take a stand! for this land.
Take arms against the corrupt press, out to paint good foreign neighbors, with leftist, lying stands!
Categories:
hudson, america, patriotic,
Form: Free verse
there was a bookie named Jennings
who had to pay the mob his winnings
one day it was said
he kept them instead
and was later found floating in the Hudson
Categories:
hudson, humorous,
Form: Limerick
We met some friends from out of town
Who had 3 hours to spare
So Hudson Yards was the New York
We thought we’d like to share.
The subway ride and escalator
(Very long and deep)
Were, from their usual routines,
A rather giant leap.
We climbed the Vessel, took some pics
And strolled the High Line to
The Hudson, where some piped-in music
Glorified the view.
The indoor shops were quite a hit
And purchases were made.
At Citarella, lunch was picked
From gourmet foods arrayed.
A little trip to Hudson Yards
On a cold and sunny day
Provided lots to see before
Our friends went on their way.
Categories:
hudson, new york,
Form: Rhyme
High above the harbor's flow,
amongst tall peaks and late snow,
where the krumholtz trees will grow,
to Lake Tear-In-The-Clouds I go.
Up here in this rugged spot,
a place explorers once sought,
echoed sounds and quit thought...
water spills through ancient rock.
Through the wilds it will wend,
by small towns it twists and bends,
winter's flow and icy spend,
until spring sun brings and end.
Above eagles dive swiftly
at trout below, swimming free.
Rafters paddle frantically
down channels fast and stony.
Rush water, clear and cold,
carved a gorge by the Blue Hole,
racing river, ice-age old,
through land that cannot be sold.
Down-river it's not the same,
where the Hudson's calm and tame,
and polluted, we're to blame,
but way up north it remains.
Categories:
hudson, animal, image, imagery, nature,
Form: Rhyme
Hudson Valley, New York
Oh, Hudson Valley, place that I call home,
you hug the river from which came your name.
On fertile banks, the settlers came to roam
and stayed to prosper and your land proclaim.
Your winding Hudson River grew their dreams
with farmlands, orchards and new industries,
and lovely homes that languish in your scenes
atop green rolling hills with graceful trees.
And from my window, you present to me
the vision of your peaceful valleys and
the sparkling river waters that flow free
from north to south thru Hudson Valley land.
When weary from the stresses of each day...
I relish in the peace your views portray.
Sandra M. Haight
~2nd Place~
Contest: Sonnet About Where You Live
Sponsor: Silent One
Judged: 01/07/2017
Note: The Hudson River begins at Lake Tear of the Clouds in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. It flows to the tip of Manhattan in the southern part of the state.
My home is in Newburgh, a town along the Mid-Hudson Valley, sixty miles north of New York City.
Categories:
hudson, home,
Form: Sonnet
A parade of folk
fixed on wedge-shaped skyscrapers
faces punctuated by grins wider
than the horizon
I see them across the avenue
musing upon tower tops, piercing
the cerulean dome,
turning heads and spooning smiles
this is a place where contrasts reflect
off asphalt ribbons, where pigeons pivot
while their wings shed silver-gray tumult
where straphangers squeeze into metal cars
at Eighty Sixth and Broadway
scents of mingled perfume and scorched brake pads
fill the subterranean stretch
here, where millions come as night spills over the Hudson
and the moon rests in roof top gardens
here, dreams are born in quiet depths
and this river lies ever at your feet
Categories:
hudson, memory,
Form: I do not know?
I ponder poetry passively, as the clock ticks
You can bolt your door when the reaper knocks
But what if he’s a lock-smith?
We’re a nearly always a nation in debt,
Visa’s put credit card
Goblins under your bed.
Blessed and cursed, by unlimited spending
Poor and regretful, is that a diligent ending?
When I dream, I ponder pillow fights,
Polyester wars waged on cool autumn nights
Consider the sacrifice, as you sip your burnt coffee
Of soldiers from home who fancied
Going out in a blaze of glory…
Only,
To find themselves dying quietly
Last breaths whispered softly,
On the Homeland we all pray
To a shopping-mall Gandhi.
I pass by store-windows, a distorted reflection
Looks rather pious, as it ponders who I am.
So let us go then, you and I
When the ozone has grown disillusioned with the sky
And opens up our lives to harsh Heavens.
Like a terminal patient
Who roams septic halls in a hospital gown
Memorizing faces,
With the fresh innocence of a child
Because we’ll all be great friends,
On the other side, somehow
Till robotic voices wake us, and we drown.
Categories:
hudson, brother, childhood, computer-internet, confusion,
Form: Verse
moon shines over and blows on the hudson
a shimmering ribbon blue white on the chop
a few boats near the shore
magnificent houses in this old town
from time before history
as I sit knees to chin on the church steps
mild early fall moments
music in the air all around
gnarled century trees
sentinals of farmers, authors and headless men
lovers by the shore have stood beneath them
bathed in the river musk
that carries me now
Categories:
hudson, history
Form: Free verse
On early Thursday morning,
Terror filled the New York sky.
And two engines were disabled,
By a flock of birds passing by.
Departing from La Guardia,
Bound for Charlotte, N.C.
US Airways flight 1549,
Departed at 3:24 from NYC.
And moments after departure,
A calm subtle voice was heard.
Stating to brace for impact,
Before the impact occurred.
The plane essentially became,
A 170,000 pound glider.
As the 58-year old captain,
Became the flights safety provider.
And in a controlled descent,
He steered the disabled craft.
Over the George Washington bridge,
And safely sailing it like a raft.
155 passengers survived as his,
Courage and heroism was outstanding.
On 1-15-09, the pilot of pilots,
Performed an amazing splash landing.
_________________________________
Inspired by the courage and heroism
of Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger, III,
for the Miracle of the Hudson on 1-15-09
Categories:
hudson, dedicationcourage,
Form: Quatrain