George Washington And Smallpox by Dennis Allen Lange

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Of vaccinate, Washington said, “No!”
Emphatic he was. “Out you go
…If as soldiers you do,
…Then as soldiers you’re through!”
But he changed his mind, ending woe.

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Vaccination was primitive in Washington’s time. Pus from
a smallpox victim was put into a wound to inoculate
another, giving them (for the most part) a slight case of
smallpox and immunity, though a few even died.  When
Washington changed his mind and had his army inoculated,
the death rate in his army associated with smallpox went
from 160 out of 1000 to 3 of 1000.

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© Dennis Allen Lange, 2019.

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General George Armstrong Custer by Dennis Lange

What was that man General George Custer?
A hero? A braggart? All bluster?
A peacock for public and papers?
No substance, mere image and vapors? 

What was that man General George Custer?
A name that should live on in luster?
Or was he a fool who crusaded
For honor – so error pervaded? 

At Big Horn the big man was little;
His life and his men’s were all brittle.
A soldier, he sought fame and glory
His death, to this day, is the story.
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© Dennis Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2015.

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To Dad by Dennis Lange

(for Father’s Day, 2011)

Father –
It was the why you rose to work, with sometimes fewer words:
Mouths to feed, with open beaks, just like the baby birds.

Father –
It was the why you sometimes had to toughly discipline,
Like sergeants in the army mold raw recruits into men.

Father –
It was the why of outer gruff, quite needed to be firm,
When even that grew out of love, the greatest gentle germ.

Father –
It was the why God made your shoulders wider than the rest,
To lean upon when worldly woes against my soul were pressed.

Father –
All that and more is in the word, your role within the ranks.
All that and more is what you are, to me, and I give thanks.

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© Dennis Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2011.

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