Today In Time

[observer]

1791 - John Stone patented the pile driver on this day. Let’s all go pound on some concrete to celebrate.

1793 - Toronto Ontario - Lt. Gov. John Graves Simcoe and his wife Elizabeth dine on boiled black squirrel, porcupine, roasted passenger pigeon, raccoon, fish, beef and veal.

1876 - 1st telephone call made (Alexander Graham Bell to Thomas Watson)

1910 - China ends slavery

1965 - Walter Matthau and Art Carney opened in The Odd Couple, one of Neil Simon’s greatest theatrical triumphs. It would also become a hit on television, with Tony Randall playing the tidy Felix Ungar and Jack Klugman as slovenly sportswriter, Oscar Madison. The play opened at the Plymouth Theatre in New York City.

1969 - Memphis Tennessee - James Earl Ray sentenced to 99 years in jail for murder of Martin Luther King, April 1968.

1980 - Willard Scott becomes the weather forecaster on the Today Show

1988 - California - Bee Gees singer Andy Gibb dies at 30 of heart infection.

BIRTHDAYS
1861 - Emily Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake) 1861-1913 - poet, lecturer , at Chiefswood, Six Nations Mohawk Reserve, near Brantford Ontario; daughter of Chief Henry Martin and British wife Emily Howells; died March 7, 1913 in Vancouver. Johnson was a successful poet in her day, who gave readings and lectures in North America and Europe. Her most famous poem is The Song My Paddle Sings.
1903 - Claire Booth Luce, playwright: The Women, Kiss the Boys Goodbye, Margin of Error; editor: Vogue, Vanity Fair; politician: U.S. Congresswoman (1943-47); U.S. Ambassador to Italy (1953-56); married to publisher Henry Luce.
1928 - James Earl Ray, assassin (Martin Luther King Jr)
1937 - Tommy Hunter - country singer, at London Ontario. Starting in 1965, he hosted the Tommy Hunter Show on CBC for 27 seasons.
1940 - Chuck Norris (Carlos Ray Norris ) - karate champion, actor: Code of Silence, Delta Force, Forced Vengeance, Lone Wolf McQuade, Missing in Action, Walker, Texas Ranger
1947 - Avril "Kim" Campbell, Canada's 1st female premier (1993- )
1958 - Sharon Stone - actress: Last Dance, Casino, The Specialist, Basic Instinct, Total Recall, War & Remembrance series, Above the Law, Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol.
1964 - Prince Edward (Edward Antony Richard Louis) - royalty: Earl of Wessex and Viscount Severn: son and youngest child of Great Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh

[rbw]

Emily Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake)



The Song My Paddle Sings

E. Pauline Johnson (1862–1913)

WEST wind, blow from your prairie nest,

Blow from the mountains, blow from the west.

The sail is idle, the sailor too;

O wind of the west, we wait for you!

Blow, blow!
5
I have wooed you so,

But never a favor you bestow.

You rock your cradle the hills between,

But scorn to notice my white lateen.

I stow the sail and unship the mast:
10

I wooed you long, but my wooing’s past;

My paddle will lull you into rest:

O drowsy wind of the drowsy west,

Sleep, sleep!

By your mountains steep,
15
Or down where the prairie grasses sweep,

Now fold in slumber your laggard wings,

For soft is the song my paddle sings.

August is laughing across the sky,

Laughing while paddle, canoe and I
20
Drift, drift,

Where the hills uplift

On either side of the current swift.

The river rolls in its rocky bed,

My paddle is plying its way ahead,
25
Dip, dip,

When the waters flip

In foam as over their breast we slip.

And oh, the river runs swifter now;

The eddies circle about my bow:
30
Swirl, swirl!

How the ripples curl

In many a dangerous pool awhirl!

And far to forward the rapids roar,

Fretting their margin for evermore;
35
Dash, dash,

With a mighty crash,

They seethe and boil and bound and splash.

Be strong, O paddle! be brave, canoe!

The reckless waves you must plunge into.
40
Reel, reel,

On your trembling keel,

But never a fear my craft will feel.

We ’ve raced the rapids; we ’re far ahead:

The river slips through its silent bed.
45
Sway, sway,

As the bubbles spray

And fall in tinkling tunes away.

And up on the hills against the sky,

A fir tree rocking its lullaby
50
Swings, swings,

Its emerald wings,

Swelling the song that my paddle sings.

[observer]

To be honest, rbw, I don't know if I'd ever read the poem before. Thanks for that!

[rbw]

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