Goodbye, Delta Queen – a poem
We’ve just received a poem about the Delta Queen from 12-year-old Cole Martin, from Huntsville, Alabama, that I’d like to share with everyone. We don’t take any reponsibility for shedding a tear or two when reading this, so be prepared. Cole, thank you very much for your contribution and support.
Goodbye, Delta Queen
She wakes up every morning
To a loud whistle blow.
She spends each day
as though it were her last to show.
All day, she watches her brothers and sisters on deck;
She listens to the ragtime sound.
She watches America’s towns go by.
Proud to be America’s angel riverbound.
She is royalty on the river.
Persistence and endurance are her claim to fame.
Why must they dock her?
She is the meaning of American spirit to tame.
These days of freedom are numbered.
She has been through good times and bad…that is our bond.
The Delta Queen should cruise toward the sunset…
and beyond.
Cole Martin, Huntsville, AL
February 8th, 2008 at 3:59 am
Thanks for the tears.
February 8th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Dear Cole,
Thank you very much for your wonderful poem!
I am from Moscow, Russia and our country also had many historical paddle steamers that were part of our history.
Unfortunately, most of them were lost because of the indifference of people who should have known better.
I hope that the same will not happen with the Delta Queen.
Your parents should be proud of you!
With Best regards.
Shamil Sultanov.
March 7th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Dearest Cole;
Thank you so much for your wonderful poem. The Delta Queen is a National Landmark and gift that is in deep peril. Your young heart is wise beond its years. Your good Southern Heritage and American Heritage shows. Not only should your parents be proud of you, I am proud of you. I will take a copy of your poem with me when I go onboard the Delta Queen for her last steamboat races. I will read it as she steams into what we hope will not be her last sunset.
With Thanks,
Mrs. Bettie Russo
Battleground, Washington
March 28th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
While it is true that safety as a standard rule is necessary. The fact is ” real history ” from which the
” Delta Queen ” flows requires there to be specific
exemptions to the rules. This is one of them. The ship is
special and is our living history and should continue as
it is, fully operational. This is another example of a
federal bureaucracy trying to protect us from ourselves just like seat belts in cars and helmuts on motorcyclists.
They have given the warning, now allow us to continue our
right to choose, as free americans and as the founding fathers intended.
Private citizen gun control has now been reversed
by the Surpreme Court after decades of illegal regulation.
It is clear from Jefferson, Washington, Adams and Franklin
what they would see as the right to choose.
Let’s continue the reverses started by the present surpreme
court and let the people choose. To ride or not ride the
symbol which is identified with Mark Twain. The Free American Riverboat. Leave us the choice and don’t dictate!