Borrowed the neighbors chainsaw
Oiled it, sharpened the blades
Never used one before
Except that time I tried to fillet a fish
Had to trim my tree
Each branch trespassed next door
Already ate their criticisms for lunch
Dang! How do you start this thing?
Better read the instructions again
Life erupts from inanimate arbor barber
Usually, this job would be a breeze
Except, I sliced through the limb and...
Severed my left shinbone
If I were really rich, I would live in beautiful Bermuda,
Sipping rum swizzles and fishing for wily barracuda!
I'd buy a fancy sports car in which to cruise unbound,
And join the Mid-Ocean Club to play a daily golfing round!
I'd own a sailing yacht on which to entertain my friends,
Sailing 'neath moonlit skies as around the isle she wends!
I'd buy a splendid cottage on The Cut in Olde St George's town,
From there to savor dramatic sunsets watching olde Sol go down!
I'd dine on fish and chips at my favorite pub, The White Horse Inn,
Listening to quaint calypso music by the Talbot Brothers therein!
On balmy evenings I'd stroll Old Maids Lane and Shinbone Alley,
And watch the Gombey dancers gyrate as I leisurely dally!
If I were rich I would move there in a trice,
To loll on the pink sandy beaches of that island paradise!
Entry for Mystic Rose's "If You Were Rich Contest"
(11 November 2015)
Whey faced and ashen
Trouser leg rolled up
Jagged shinbone jutting
With a ragged grin.
Words tumbling
From a mouth
Shocked and numb
Sitting stiffbacked
In the dentist's window
Facing the street
Two women busy
Mothering the casualty
Until the ambulance.
Outside unrelenting
Lay the pavement
On a freezing Friday
Ice glinting coldly
And unconcerned.
Inside an old soldier
Never before
Brought low in battle.
Relaxing at Ye Olde White Horse Inn in quaint St. George's Towne,
I enjoy another rum swizzle as I watch the crimson sun go down!
Its rays cast a blush of red on fleets of sails cruising St. George's Harbour.
The soothing hiss of waves salve my soul as they roll t'ward the shore.
A magnificent display of varicoloured clouds tint the restless sea.
I sense that the Master Artist has painted this scene exclusively for me!
The rhythmic strains of calypso music wafts across the smooth lagoon.
Soon this paradise will be caressed by the mellow rays of the moon!
I amble up Shinbone Alley to the top of Fort Victoria Hill for to see,
A final glimpse of that ancient orb as it slowly sinks beneath the sea!
I meander back down Olde Maid's Lane to the Carriage Shoppe for tea,
At a quayside table to savor my beautiful Bermuda sunset reverie!
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
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