This page first opened 27th April 1997
CHUCK SEGGELIN'S POEM PAGE

FOTO-9K Chuck Seggelin was born in 1968 (see clue below under 'FLAME').

Both Chuck and his wife Patty (they were married in August 1991) graduated from the University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth with computer degrees.

He now lives at Fitchbourg in Massachusetts and works for a firm called XENERGY Inc. as a computer engineer.

Though they have no children, they do have Tina and Maya which of course are very good names for a pair of dogs.

Chuck's many interests include reading, geneology, Star Treking, writing, hiking, poetry, birdwatching (and feeding), astronomy, deep breath..... .... and in his spare time!.

Anyway - enough of the man what about his poetry?

Dee Day
Chuck says about this poem:-
only four days after writing this piece, I succeeded in feeding a chickadee by hand for the first time!
It was a delightful and somewhat ironic experience...
                                         

'Twas at the feeder, one misty morn
I found myself there filling.
Seeds from the seedy, unkempt, unshorn,
And yet still there most willing.

              I scratch my stubble, and yawn, and moan,
              And stretch a back that's aching.
              A shuffling zombie, I'm twilight zoned,
              So soon out after waking.

But I'm not alone, it startles me,
This voice from out the greenery:
"Chicka dee dee dee", said he, said he,
"Chicka dee. Dee dee? Dee dee?"

              Now I'm wide awake, somewhat chagrinned,
              At my unclean appearance
              With my hair unwashed, my teeth sleep skinned,
              And clothes that look like clearance.

For my companion is smartly dressed,
With fine black cap well fitting,
And his dapper greys upon his breast,
As about the leaves, he's flitting.

              "I've brought your peanuts. I've brought cracked corn.
              My sunflower seeds need shelling.
              I've thistle and millet, so toot your horn,
              Your slender ranks need swelling."

"Chicka dee dee dee." Said he, to me.
"I'll not spill seeds by singing,
All the more dee dee, for me, for me,
No other beaks need bringing!"

              So out reached my hand, palm encumbered,
              With sunflower seeds all brimming,
              To entice my friend, with seeds unnumbered,
              That set his eyes a-glimming.

"Chicka dee dee dee?" Asked he, of me,
"What fee-bee there for eating?"
"Little chickadee, the seed is free,
But my hand must be your seating."

              So he approached me, though nervously,
              My offer in his considering,
              Chicking and chirping, querulously,
              And on the verge of skittering.

But alack, alas, it came to pass,
When from me, was he, but inches,
He was distracted, though bold as brass,
By the song of feeding finches.

              "Chicka dee dee dee!" said he "I flee,
              As though on high winds gusting!
              For the finches fare is also free,
              And the feeder needs no trusting."

Though disappointed, I'm grateful still,
To witness nature's splendor,
So I'm contented, for its God's will,
That I should be their vendor.

EXALTATION

There is no finer love than the one I've known in you...
No smile of sweeter disposition, no soul of warmer hue,
No dream of dearer fascination, no garden greener grew,
There is no finer lover than the one who said "I do."

Words to magic I would spin, if I could, and love to hymns,
To show you what I hold within, to help you see how my heart brims,
With love and warmth and hot desire, with honest praise and faithful fire,
With music played on angels lyres that throbs with pride and never tires.

My love could move mountains so strong is my devotion,
My love could swell seas and make fountains of oceans,
My love will fill fissures that may come between us,
My love will melt glaciers in the white heat of Venus.

No thing, no place, nor any other
Could supersede my finest lover.
Worry not what my silence brings,
I just can't speak when my heart sings...

And sing it does when you're around,
A joyful whorl of swirling sound
That carries me to Eden's banks
To kneel and humbly offer thanks.

You simply are the only star that blazes in my night,
You'll always be a friend to me and keep my soul aright,
And so, I know, though time will flow, I'll ever hold you tight,
For you've the love I'm nourished of within the darkest blight.

FLAMES
Chuck says:
I wrote this rather melodramatic piece back in 1984 (when I was 17)
the cold war was still going strong and I worried on a daily basis about the end of the world.
It was also one of my early experiments with imagery and alliteration.
                                         

Fiery flames, flicker and flash,
Spitting sparks and spurting ash,
Burning branches and baking trash,
Sizzling the air at which they lash.

Golden glimmers glint all aglow,
And with the smoke they upwards go,
Into the Earth from whence they grow,
Spawning life that loves and knows.

Life that wants no sentiments,
For its corrupted governments,
Ignoring all its innocents,
Forging a chain of fatal events.

And each one, the other, blames.
No two will admit they are the same,
And for foolish fights they each take aim...
And turn the Earth back into flame!

And now (since all good things must come to an end)
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