Chip and I love to go out for breakfast. Going out for breakfast is a special treat for me. I love to cook but breakfast is a way to just sit, talk and catch up on the week’s events. I don’t have to cook or clean up and the coffee is flowing!

Lakeside Farms in Ballston Lake, NY is a very special breakfast place. When you pull open that old wooden door, the bells on the top of the door ring. Instantly you can smell, doughnuts, bacon, and coffee. Is there anything better than that?

We chat a bit with Lisa as we place our order, and I head over to the coffee counter to make that beautiful cup of Joe. On Saturday morning, I was bantering with a gentleman about coffee and life in general. We parted ways and headed to our respective breakfast partners to enjoy our breakfast.

Don’t you know he is sitting right next to us with his daughter? We begin to chat. His name is Lou S. and he spoke of his family, the loss of his son and wife, and his love of poetry. He handed me a slip of paper with a poem he said he wrote called The Raven. Here it is for your reading pleasure.

The Raven

The Raven knows, he saw it, from up on his branch.

The Raven knows, it saw it all, in a brief but furtive glance.

He saw the world of yesterday. He saw the world of now.

He saw the world of tomorrow. He saw it all, somehow.

He saw the world’s beginning; he knew it all must end.

He knew on what the worth of it would ultimately depend.

It was not the gathering of talents or the gathering of goods.

It was something far greater, and this he understood.

We need to learn a lesson from the Raven on his branch.

We need to see what the Raven saw, in a brief, but furtive glance.

Lou S. 2019

Passion as a storyteller.

Lou recited this poem, from memory with all the glory of a storyteller proud of his work. He hands were in motion and his voice changing with the tempo. His eyes were focused and serious. Lou had our full attention.

Thank you Lou for your company over breakfast and for sharing a bit of your story with me and Chip. You and your poem will live on in my memory.

xoxoxo

Author’s note- If you have never been to Lakeside Farms for breakfast, you absolutely must go!