Kentucky Poetry

With the Kentucky ancestry of my adopted child (including both the Boones and the Wakefields), I have been doing some research on the state recently.

Bill West at WestInNewEngland has an Annual Poetry Challenge

1. Find a poem by a poet, famous or obscure, about the region one of your ancestors lived in. It can be about an historical event, a legend, a person, or even about some place (like a river)or a local animal. It can even be a poem you or one of your ancestors have written. 0r, if you prefer, post the lyrics of a song or a link to a video of someone performing the song. 

2. Post the poem or song to your blog (remembering to cite the source where you found it.). If you wish to enter an older post, you may as long as it has not appeared here in an earlier Poetry Challenge.

3.Tell us how the subject of the poem or song relates to your ancestor's home or life, or the area of the country where they lived.

After reading his post, I tried to find some Kentucky poetry.

***

Robert Penn Warren (1905-1989) was born in Kentucky

Tell Me a Story 

[A]

Long ago, in Kentucky, I a boy, stood
By a dirt road, in first dark, and heard
The great geese hoot northward.

I could not see them, there being no moon
And the stars sparse. I heard them.

I did not know what was happening in my heart.

It was the season before the elderberry blooms,
Therefore they were going north.

The sound was passing northward.

[B]

Tell me a story.

In this century, and moment, of mania,
Tell me a story.

Make it a story of great distances, and starlight.

The name of the story will be Time,
But you must not pronounce its name.

Tell me a story of deep delight.

***

And while she is known as a Hoosier Poet, Women's Rights Advocate Sarah Bolton (1814-1893) was also born in Kentucky.

Paddle Your Own Canoe

Voyager upon life's sea,
To yourself be true,
And where'er your lot may be
Paddle your own canoe.
Never, though the winds may rave,
Falter nor look back;
But upon the darkest wave
Leave a shinning track.

Nobly dare the wildest storm,
Stem the hardest gale;
Brave of heart and strong of arm,
You will never fail.
When the world is cold and dark,
Keep an aim in view,
And toward the beacon mark
Paddle your own canoe.

Every wave that bears you on
To the silent shore,
From its sunny source has gone
To return no more.
Then let not an hour's delay
Cheat you of your due;
But, while it is called today,
Paddle your own canoe.

If your birth denied you wealth,
loftly state and power;
Honest fame and hardy health
Are a better dower.
But if these will not suffice,
Golden gain pursue;
And, to win the glittering prize,
Paddle your own canoe.

Would you wrest the wreath of fame
From the hand of fate?
Would you write a deathless name
With the good and the great?
Would you bless your fellow-men?
Heart and soul inbue
With the holy task, and then
Paddle your own canoe.

Would you crush the tyrant wrong,
In the world's free fight?
With a spirit brave and strong,
Battle for the right;
And to break the chains that bind
The many to the few,
To enfranchise slavish mind-
Paddle your own canoe,

Nothing great is lightly won;
Nothing won is lost;
Every good deed is nobly done,
Will repay the cost.
Leave to Heaven, in humble trust,
All you will do;
But if you succeed, you must
Paddle your own canoe.