Daniel Boone and Me

By John I. Blair

In my heart it makes me proud
To claim my sixth-great grandfather
Is Daniel Boone, the Pathfinder,
Who settled Boonesborough, KY,
And Booneville in Missouri.

I guess my pride’s irrational;
Once I’ve calculated out
What portion of my DNA
Might stem from him
It’s less than two percent.

But genes are not the point;
I figure my excuse is
Rather who he was, and
Who I am, and how we have
Connected through the years.

I love to read about his exploits,
His hunts for bears,
His skirmishes with Indians.
(Although he was a peaceful man
He’d found that passion had its uses.)

He mapped the trackless wilderness
And made his name by taming it,
Yet said if neighbors lived so close
That he could hear an axe
The time had come to move.

Well I can hear my neighbors sneeze;
The bears I dread all trade on Wall Street;
But when I’m scouting fearlessly
Around a freeway traffic jam
I channel Daniel’s frontier glory.

©2006 John I. Blair
Encore