David A. Webb

Black River Falls, WI, USA

David Allen Webb is a freelance writer who dictated his first story at age three. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Recently inducted into Marquis' Who's Who in the Midwest, he was also nominated for an American Horticultural Society Award in 1983. David was bestowed the Carnegie Fund for Authors Fellowship in 1985. His books include: Growing Fruits & Berries, Practical Landscaping and Lawn Care, Easy Potpourri, Making Potpourri, Colognes & Soaps—102 Natural Recipes (McGraw-Hill). His novels include: Kong Forest and Edwardian Summer. Webb's poetry appears in NLP anthologies, Verdant Lands of Spring and Best Poems of 1998. David says, "Poetry speaks to the soul."

They Are Tearing Down My Grandfather's House

(An NLP Editor's Choice Award Winner in Verdant Lands of Spring)

They are tearing down my Grandfather's house,
it's made of wood and brick and stone.
The windows they've removed. To them it's real
estate, to me it's my heart being ripped in two.
The realtors, the bankers, the moneymen don't understand.
A house is more than made of wood, a house is made of man.

My Grandfather's house is a memory that will
endure after it's torn down.
He's been gone for near thirty years, but his
house had lived on.
I know the world is made of change, and change
is all that's real. But one thing I cannot change,
that is the way I feel.

I wipe a tear in the falling rain,
because they are tearing down my Grandfather's
house, and it gives me pain.
I love him as if it were yesteryear,
his wit and smile as warm as the sun.
The house once stood to remind me, but that too
is gone.

They are tearing down my Grandfather's house,
it's made of wood and brick and stone.
Yet a house if more than made of wood,
a house is made of love.

When Love Came

(In Best Poems of 1998, a portion follows:)

It was a cold winter day when love came.
Like a knock on the door of my consciousness,
like a rap at my window pane.

The Sun, the Sand, and the Sea

I wrote the novel, Edwardian Summer, about a
man in search of his youth.
It is a tale of anguish and joy, reminiscent
of eternal truth.
These are the dreams of you and me:
The Sun, The Sand, and The Sea.

As a thief in the dark, the plunder of time grasps
our vigor and steals our lark. We relish a world
with less rigor.
These are the dreams of you and me:
The Sun, The Sand, And The Sea.

A weary world steeped in distress:
Begets the universe, ethereal of sunshine
happiness.
These are the dreams of you and me:
The Sun, The Sand, And The Sea.

The Sun, The Sand, And The Sea.
These are the dreams of you and me:
To live our lives, Savage and Free;
Under The Sun, In The Sand, And by The Sea.