a poem in my pocket

dVerse challenge to write a poem to “bridge the gap” between two book quotes…

“You American Calvinists have done pretty well at preserving the major and minor melodies of the Genevan Psalter. Psalm 42, 68 and 73 are all in your Psalter Hymnal.” (1)

Need a windmill erected or a canal dug?
leave it to the Dutch who reclaimed their land
from the sea and their church from the Arminians.

The frozen chosen sing hymns loud and proud
yet aren’t opposed to a cold beer after baling hay.

Dutch immigrants left old country and old folks
verwelkomen to America. The old ways hung on:
check planting, milking Holsteins, tulip festivals.

Some people think Dutch Calvinists are stodgy;
it’s plain stubbornness, which serves them well.

They are a resourceful, hard working lot;
thrifty, loyal as orange, clean to a fault and
possessing an earthy sense of humor.

“It was the Dutch who discovered that adding the Common Juniper’s dark blue berries to a strong but tasteless and colorless liquor gave it a unique taste.” note: gin was first called “hollands” (2)

1. p. 27, Style & Class by Sietze Buning
2. p. 45, North AmericanTrees, Fandex Family Field Guide