Wednesday, March 18, 2020

H1N1 Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918-1919

In 1919
My grandfather wrote on the
side of his desk drawer

"All had the flu but Dave, all in bed—
Little Gid quite sick.
Docky Wells here to see him."

"Slept on couch all time.
Did not have my pants off in
1919 up to this date."

"David G. Yoder
Jan. 8, 1919
Wellman, Iowa"

He was 25
No deaths in his family
But some known to him

Spanish flu horror
50 million dead world wide
Nearly one million (in U. S.)

I inherited
Grandpa Yoder's desk in time
What shall I write now...

100 years hence...
that the halfwit Donald Trump
shut down the office

that worked to prevent
another pandemic of
the same magnitude?

And two years later
COVID 19 pandemic
can not be halted?

~dkm 242/365
Faded note in 2020
written in 1919




Grandpa Yoder and desk in 1989
Grandpa, age 97
Desk in 2020

5 comments:

Peggy said...

How. Oil that he wrote his thoughts on the desk...it’s a beautiful desk and what a keepsake! Think it will be time for you to inscribe a covid19 memory before long. Love that you have a picture of your grandpa by the desk!❤️

dkm said...

I didn't remember that I had it until I opened the drawer to take the photo. A lucky find. He died shortly thereafter, in 1990 at age 97.

Jane Robertson said...

Oh my goodness, how utterly poignant, beautiful, special, heartening....

dkm said...

Jane! So nice to see you here! And many thanks for your lovely comment....

Unknown said...

Just lovely.