Cajun Cousins

We went "down the bayou," as we say;
We picked up my uncle's widow on the way.
I had convinced my bayou folks that I could
Be trusted to bring them some food.

My daddy's sister is quite the Cajun cook;
I've tried to get her to write a cookbook.
So it was a great honor to be
Entrusted with supper cooking duty.

Pot roast for plenty was what I made
We never know how many will be fed
Two cousins came over, a wife, and a son
We visited before the meal was begun.

We stood in a circle before we ate
A prayer was offered; food could wait.
We began the meal with my aunt's corn soup
She just couldn't, to being a beggar, stoop.

Conversation was lively; my cousin had killed a hog.
We spoke of everything from relatives to dogs.
King cakes, and cookies, and apple cake --
Everyone there seemed to have baked.

We rode home with stomachs and hearts that were full
The Cajun clan for me has a special pull
Everyone one who comes is treated like a dignitary,
And leaves with a feeling of being cherished.

As They Grow Old, Men Are Not so Bold

I watch these men as they grow old;
Their expectations don't now seem so bold.
They ask for things with a touch of gratitude;
This is an newly expressed attitude.

Traditional men have been beknighted,
And their women were to be slighted.
This seems the interpretation of many scriptures,
Which, on women's teaching, put strictures.

Women are deficient; men are the chosen ones;
This seems the message since western history was begun.
Why do some think it's better to limit eternity
To only those that look like you and me?

I love to see rainbows in the sky;
I love more to see them in others' eyes
It seems to me the acceptance of sacred in all life
Would lead to eternity with less earthly strife.

I wonder if these men have apologized
For all of their anger and all of their lies,
So that their children and wives can be at peace
When their earthly breath does cease.

Or will their families continue to pretend,
Once they die, that they never sinned?
And will the harm inflicted in this life,
To another generation, bring strife?

They have balanced the scales of life, I pray,
So whatever their sins, in their generation, stay.
And their families will spread the good,
As only a family built on honesty could.