i once knew a man

When i was a child i knew a man
who was once my mother's lover

He was a kind and generous soul who loved horses
and with the rugged dark handsome looks of Humphrey Bogart
he had a romance with my mother
that sits in my mind's eye not unlike Katherine & Humprey's love~affair

And recalling through my child's eye i remember that his big truckies heart...
belonged most tenderly to his faithful companion and pet dog
~Sandy~

i reminisce with the ambiance of a misty legend
the story of his humble beginnings...
and reflect upon the severe car accident that left him for months as a young man
in hospital, flat on his back with nothing to contemplate...

but his *life*

and how instead of spiraling into despair
he said he had decided that he was being given this time

for a ~reason~

and so the small and now crooked man
lay on his back and planned how he was going to return to his

~Life~

...and so the story goes
this is how a humble truckers ~dreaming~
became a ~millionaires life~

Fond memories in my heart lay
of the white picked fences on his stud
of his pregnant mares in green pastures
and of the feisty arrogance and energy of prize stallions
stamping dusty pathways in big paddocks
and most fondly i remember the playful nipping of foals at my ankles as i sat on their surrounding fencing sketching their pretty faces in the sun

i reminisce and remember how to my child's eye
his big house (modeled on ~Tara~ from Gone with the Wind)
seemed like something from a ~dream~
and how his long shiny car
was in such contrast to his quiet gentleness...

His millionaires life was not a flamboyant lifestyle this you understand
when you have glimpsed his solitary soul
and you know such secrets as...
~Sandy~ got to swim in his big in~ground pool
when it was empty of folk
...so it wasn't wasted

i feel honored to have crossed paths with this good man
known fondly by his friends
as BJ

and i remember these stories
of this kind and generous man
this good man, who lead a good life
for it was this week on the 7th that he let go of these times
to leave for a bigger adventure...

Bernie Ahern

~May he Rest In Peace~



<3