A poetic tribute to Maine Neighborliness (insuring, house, neighborhood)

[elston]

I am awash with things Maine. While I wait for my house to sell.... I search the web, reading articles about Maine, looking at pictures of Maine, reading "down east" recipes and reading articles about Maine towns. I just found a site with some Maine poems and the following one appealed to my sense of sentimentality and my love of people. I want to share it with all of you. I understand that the poet, Kate Barnes, is a poet laurete emeritis of Maine.

Neighborliness
by Kate Barnes
"In Maine we're used to it, it's still
the custom to look out for the neighbors, a habit
handed down from the start
of the earliest fishing villages, of the first
long strings of hundred-acre farms
stretched along ridges, each one usually
just called, "The Road."

On that road,
if a man fell sick, or a widow
was facing a hard winter, it was neighbors
who filled the woodshed, the neighbors
who shared meat when they butchered
If a house burned down, the whole neighborhood
turned out to help build another.
When a storm threatened anyone's cut hay, it was everyone
who hurried over to help get it safely
into the barn.
And the helping goes right on: this fall I heard
of someone who had to put a whole paycheck
on an old debt, and then found a hot dinner
waiting on the step when he got home from work
every night for a month -- but no one
ever admitted a thing.

In Maine
we have a way of looking out
for one another. When the great ice storm
struck us last year, the grocery stores
were full of extra heaters left there
for anyone to borrow, and the whole state
was busy with jeep cans of water and stacks of wood,
making sure we were all alright, that everyone
would pull through.

In Maine
we are glad to be part of a land
that remains so beautiful under its green skin
of woods and open fields, that is glitteringly
bordered by thousands of miles
of breaking waves, and that is lovely,
too, with an unbroken tradition
of concerns, with the kind, enduring grace
of its neighborliness."

And may it always be so. Elston

[msina]

Simply Lovely. Gawd I wish I could write like that, put the feeling into the right words! Thank You for sharing it.

[moughie]

Elston, what a lovely poem. You are a sweetheart for posting it.
I wish for you many wonderful neighbors when you move to Maine!
I know I would be honored to be your neighbor

[elston]

Neighborliness is as much a state of mind as a physical location. You are among the folks who post in this community who I feel are friends and neighbors.

To continue in a poetic vein, Emily Dickinson wrote:

"Who has not found the heaven below
Will fail of it above.
God's residence is next to mine,
His furniture is love."

She also wrote a poem that I love and try to emulate:

[elston]

whoops! here it is:

"If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto her nest again,
I shall not live in vain. "

[mainebrokerman]

Originally Posted by elston

I am awash with things Maine. While I wait for my house to sell.... I search the web, reading articles about Maine, looking at pictures of Maine, reading "down east" recipes and reading articles about Maine towns. I just found a site with some Maine poems and the following one appealed to my sense of sentimentality and my love of people. I want to share it with all of you. I understand that the poet, Kate Barnes, is a poet laurete emeritis of Maine.

Neighborliness
by Kate Barnes
"In Maine we're used to it, it's still
the custom to look out for the neighbors, a habit
handed down from the start
of the earliest fishing villages, of the first
long strings of hundred-acre farms
stretched along ridges, each one usually
just called, "The Road."

On that road,
if a man fell sick, or a widow
was facing a hard winter, it was neighbors
who filled the woodshed, the neighbors
who shared meat when they butchered
If a house burned down, the whole neighborhood
turned out to help build another.
When a storm threatened anyone's cut hay, it was everyone
who hurried over to help get it safely
into the barn.
And the helping goes right on: this fall I heard
of someone who had to put a whole paycheck
on an old debt, and then found a hot dinner
waiting on the step when he got home from work
every night for a month -- but no one
ever admitted a thing.

In Maine
we have a way of looking out
for one another. When the great ice storm
struck us last year, the grocery stores
were full of extra heaters left there
for anyone to borrow, and the whole state
was busy with jeep cans of water and stacks of wood,
making sure we were all alright, that everyone
would pull through.

In Maine
we are glad to be part of a land
that remains so beautiful under its green skin
of woods and open fields, that is glitteringly
bordered by thousands of miles
of breaking waves, and that is lovely,
too, with an unbroken tradition
of concerns, with the kind, enduring grace
of its neighborliness."

And may it always be so. Elston

awesome post!! thank you

[Northern Maine Land Man]

About 10 years ago the saw mill burned down here in town. The same family has operated it since 1832. The next day there were two lines of people at the mill site. The people in one line were there to buy up the last of the V-match cedar to finish up projects. The other line was there with cash to pay up their accounts. You see, the mill was uninsured. The annual cost of insuring a saw mill is about a third the value of the mill and most saw mills are uninsured. People know it.

The mill was soon back in operation because of the people who lined up to pay off their accounts.

[elston]

An amazing and inspirational story; thanks for sharing the Good News about Human Nature. We hear so much of the dissappointing and discouraging. Maybe we should start a post of Random Acts of Kindness stories.

[quiet walker]

Originally Posted by elston

[font=Times New Roman]I am awash with things Maine. While I wait for my house to sell....

Thank You!

[dramamama6685]

Thanks for sharing Elston. That was beautiful and welcome to our little family.