| Author | Date Entered/Modified | Views |
| Daniel A. Stafford | 8/24/2000 6:57:15 AM 10/8/2022 12:26:50 PM | 902 |
Airman's Leave
Denver, snow, deep, white, all pervasive,
Down from the mountains and wind, beauty persuasive,
Forty eight hours and fifty six minutes falling,
Homeward bound young Airman, thirty days calling.
Training done, leaving with all the good bye's remembered.
A '66 Dodge Dart GT classic still running,
Night time in Nebraska and it's still coming,
Plowing through drifts loses ten miles an hour,
Every twenty feet I feel the storms' power.
Darkness, wind, snow, tiredness overwhelming battle.
Muffler ripped off in a night time drift now running loud,
Must be a hundred or more through which I've plowed.
Motel Sign ahead $11.95 a night,
My saving grace, a welcome, most heavenly sight.
Coffee at dawn, first sun in days.
Back on the road, blue sky dawning,
Bright with sun, even through fierce yawning.
Stretch my road legs some more,
Pulling into the driveway in Beloit in evening once more.
Break at home, visits, remembrances.
Leaving, Chicago, visit my best friend,
Pulled in to the garage to check the front end.
Busted the manifold pulling on the ramp,
Paying the welder causes a financial cramp.
Fog, blanket, Chicago to Oklahoma city, no end.
Running through Oklahoma on fumes, at four a.m.,
Knocking on a gas station door, thankful for them,
Trading hours at the pumps for a tankful and lunch,
A day late for duty, but brain stormed the crunch.
Being broke doesn't always mean losing.
I'll never forget the kindness showed,
To a 17 year old Airman who had been thoroughly snowed.
Never knock an Okie in front of me,
They sure saved my backside, you see.
Pulling into the base in New Mexico, into the future.
The old Dart came to rest where I met the sky.
AquarianM
By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C)2000
Author's Comments
This was an incredible time in my life, and I'm sure my Mom has a few white hairs to show for it. The incredible kindness of that couple in Oklahoma, answering their door to a 17 year old begging for
a salvation with honor, which they gave, bowl of chili included. A half day pumping gas for a half a tank, and I was back on the road, and reflection through adult eyes, knocking on that door at four o'clock in the morning was one hell of a chance to take, but it beat hell out of taking something not mine in my eyes. Desperate measures, for sure. I don't know your names, but it was 1979/80 and I hope you two read this and hear a heart-felt "Thank You!" Did the air hose for the other lane work?
| Author | Date Entered/Modified | Views |
| Daniel A. Stafford | 8/24/2000 6:57:15 AM 10/8/2022 12:26:50 PM | 902 |
Total Comments: 1
Comments | |||
| Janine Daniel | spinnys@hotmail.com | www.spinnys.com | 8/28/2000 12:39:01 AM |
| Wouldn't it be incredible if that couple did read this poem! I've never lived where there is snow but from your description of it in this poem I can clearly imagine what it would be like. Well done Dan. | |||