Family Legend
Frozen solid as a bone,
His icy breath drew sparks from stone.
The only man to walk alone
through that icy Arctic zone,
his legend spread from door to door,
window to window, shore to shore.
Few there were who did not know
how he enchanted friend and foe
with tales of how he wandered, clueless,
through the snow, coatless and shoeless.,
sparking fire with his breath
that saved him from a frigid death.
Scraping the moss beneath the snow
to build a fire, in its glow,
he brewed a soup of ptarmigan
devoured it, and when he was done,
took the feathers of the fowl
to weave a cape with shirt and cowl
that protected him from wind and snow
for that short distance he had to go
until the wintry blast relented
and he reached that valley scented
with aromas of spring flowers,
waving grass and leafy bowers,
found the spring with steaming spout
that warmed him up and thawed him out.
Relieved his feet that had gone shoeless
until they were warm and blueless.
Thus reads the legend of the man.
Try to believe it if you can.
This is the tale that I have heard,
fantastic and wholly absurd.
It’s up to you to wonder why
any shoeless naked guy
could survive this ordeal without dying.
Could it be my Gramps was lying?
Today’s Wordle prompt words are: stone, few, sparks, icy, spread, breath, clue, legend, enchanted, feather and scented.
For the Sunday Whirl Wordle #527
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 
Love it~! for a while I pictured myself, but knew better because I wore mukluks over which I had rubber overshoes to keep them warm and dry. Your grand dad must not have had an Inuit lady friend to keep his feet from turning blue~!
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It says “anonymous,” but I’d recognize your tall tales anywhere, Sam!!!
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Wonderful! Just wonderful!
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Thanks, Regina.
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That picture makes me cold!
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I took it from a plane. I was flying over either Colorado or Wyoming or Montana…
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The old wide open spaces
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Imagine how cold it made Grandpa!!
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This is wonderful! I think grandpa might’ve read too much Robert Service and Jack London 🙂
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Ha. Do you suppose. perhaps. that I did as well?
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Hmmmm…. This poem echoes The Cremation of Sam McGee…
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Martha, Sam McGee occurred to me as well! I kinda dismissed my reaction since I’d spent 6 months in The Yukon back in ’03, awash in Robert Service’s legacy.
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I love Robert Service. I grew up with his poetry. My two favorites are The Spell of the Yukon and The Call of the Wild. Unfortunately, one day on a hike I realized that both the Shooting of Dan McGrew fits perfectly in the music for “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.” 😀
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I must confess I don’t care much for Mr. Service’s The Spell of the Yukon, but after 18 years I am STILL under that very spell – Six of some of the best months of my life. Here is my Yukon anthem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGL7SLZm6HA
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That’s wonderful. ❤
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