Poetry Through a Lifetime

By Brigitta Gisella Geltrich-Ludgate

The Gedichte eines Lebens, Erster Teil (German Poetry Through a Lifetime, Part I), The Early Years edition has been written between 1953 and 1979, with a few additional poems in later years. The poems were put on paper in German, which is the time where the author had to readjust from a childhood in Africa (an English-speaking world) and school years in Europe (a German-speaking world) and North America, specifically in Canada (an English-speaking world), and to a marriage to a Canadian, Dr. Douglas George Pierce Junior Ludgate, in 1957. During that marriage, the authors child, Douglas George Spencer Ludgate, called Spencer, was born in 1965. The poems in German ceased to come regularly once the author moved with son Spencer, to Tucson, Arizona, and her world became more English than any other language. Some of the poems have been published, which is indicated below the poems. Others reflect a certain incident in the life of the author, which is indicated as well.

The follow-up version, Poetry Through a Lifetime, Part II, Later Years, written solely in English, will be published shortly.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 23, 2017
• ISBN: 9781546200857

Brigitta Gisella Geltrich-Ludgate

Brigitta Gisella Geltrich-Ludgate was born in Kitale of the British East African colony, today’s Kenya, and was raised until school age on a farm with the name Kalua-Estates. She received her basic education in various European countries as well as in a boarding school in Lucerne, Switzerland. Even though Lucerne is in the German Swiss, the school conducted all its classes and communications in French. Her BA and MA degrees were earned at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and her Ph.D. studies were completed at the University of California Berkeley and the University of California Los Angeles. She holds an AA degree in creative writing from the Palmer Writer School, at-tended several years of memoire writing through the Monterey Peninsula College, where she had the opportunity to share her writings with fellow students, most of them outstanding writers, and bought several courses in creative writing from The Great Courses. As professor in academia, she has numerous academic as well as creative writings presented at national conferences and published in academic journals as well as in local papers. She is the author of twenty-four books, with two volumes of memoires in the final stages and a novel about a father and son moving to Alaska almost completed.

Book preview

(POETRY THROUGH A LIFETIME, PART I)

IN GERMAN WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS

BY THE AUTHOR

BRIGITTA GISELLA GELTRICH-LUDGATE

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Phone: [phone]

©

2017 Brigitta Gisella Geltrich-Ludgate. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 08/22/2017

ISBN: 978-1-5462-0084-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-0086-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-0085-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017911409

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The Author’s Thoughts and Beliefs

Written in German between 1953 and 1975

with some in the later years

Translated by the author

Brigitta Gisella Geltrich-Ludgate

This book of German poetry is

dedicated to the author’s:

Mother, Ruth Margarete Geldreich, née Boehnke, a poetess herself;

and the author’s

Father, Rudolf Karl Geldreich;

Sister, Ursula Ingrid Kristensen, née Geldreich;

Brother-in-law, Henning Holms Kristensen;

Brother, Klaus-Peter Geldreich;

And most of all to her:

Son, Douglas George Spencer Ludgate

and to

His father, Dr. Douglas George Pierce Junior Ludgate

Contents

Introduction

Timeline Of Author’s Residencies from 1940 to present

The Author’s Life Adsjustments from 1952 to 1979

Wallaceburg, Ontario, Canada (1953)

Geburt eines Kindes (Birth of a Child) October 9, 1953

Abschied (Farewell) October 20, 1953

Abschied von der Liebsten (Farewell from My Beloved) October 20, 1953

Ohne Titel (Without a Title) October 20, 1953

Vom Frühling zum Winter (From Spring to Winter) October 20, 1953

Nächstenliebe (Love for One’s Fellowmen) October 20, 1953

Wallaceburg, Ontario, Canada (1955)

Taufe eines Kindes (A Child’s Baptism) Mid-August 1955

Mahnung an Helmut, den Hosenschlamper (Warning to Helmut for Carelessly Treating his Pants) Mid-August 1955

Heimatsträume (Deams of Home) Mid-August 1955

Wellenrapsodie (Rapsody of Waves) October 15, 1955

Ins fremde Land verbannt (Exiled into a Foreign Country) October 18, 1955

Eine Maus im Keller (A Mouse in the Basement) October 19, 1955

Zugvögel (Birds of Passage) October 26, 1955

Spät am Abend (Late in the Evening) October 1955

Das Wasser (The Water) November 2, 1955

Zum Familienumzug (Notes on a Family Move) November 3, 1955

Wanderer im Schnee (Wanderer in the Snow) November 10, 1955

Der Frühling (Springtime) November 11, 1955

Das Nachtgeläute (Evening Bells) November 23, 1955

Der Weihnachtszug (The Christmas Passage) November 23, 1955

Die Weihnachtsboten (Christmas Heralds) November 23, 1955

Des Almhirts Heimatland (The Home of the Mountain Shepherd) November 24, 1955

Der Sommerfrieden (Summer’s Peace) December 8, 1955

Arm und Reich im Lichterschein (Poor and Rich in the Glow of Lights) December 8, 1955

Eine Herzensmelodie (A Melody from the Heart) December 8, 1955

Wallaceburg and Sarnia, Ontario, Canada (1956)

Des Herzens Glaube (Belief of One’s Heart) February 6, 1956

Das Licht der Welt (The Light of the World) February 6, 1956

Sarnia, Ontario, Canada (1957)

Der Fingerhut (The Thimble) March 8, 1957

Die Hochzeit (The Wedding) June 15, 1957

Nochmals Hochzeit (Once Again Wedding) June 15, 1957

Peter wird eingeschult (Peter Goes to School) August 1957

Sarnia, Ontario, Canada (1958)

Im Walde (In the Forest) March 24, 1958

Sarnia, Ontario, Canada (1959)

Rückschau auf das Jahr 1959 (A Look Back at 1959) New Year’s Eve 1959

Wallaceburg and Sarnia, Ontario, Canada (1960)

Hipp, hipp, hurra! (Hip, Hip, Hooray!) January 17, 1960

Die Zeit geht weiter (Time Goes On) End of January 1960

Mutters Geburtstag (Mother’s Birthday) March 3, 1960

Ohne Titel (Without a Title) End of March 1960

Wandern (Wandering) April 1960

Peinlich (Embarrassing) May 1960

Der Mai zieht dahin (May Moves On) End of May, 1960

Das neue und das alte Jahr (The New and the Old Year) New Year’s Eve 1960

Findlay, Ohio, USA (1962)

Der Wind (The Wind) August 10, 1962

Blick vom zehnten Stockwerk (View from the Tenth Floor) October 18, 1962

Verstecktes Gefühl (Hidden Feeling) October 19, 1962

Weihnachtsgruß an die Großeltern (Chistmas Greetings for the Grandparents) November 20, 1962

Weihnachten 1962 (Christmas 1962) December 17, 1962

Findlay, Ohio, USA (1963)

Maiglöckchen (Lily of the Valley) May 1, 1963

Bowling Green, Ohio, USA (1965)

Der Spencer ist da (Spencer Has Arrived) February 9, 1965

Pontiac, Michigan, USA (1969)

Das unmögliche Wettrennen Des Hasens und der Schildkröte (The Impossible Race Between The Rabbit and the Turtle) August 1969

Der Weihnachtsmann hat Sorgen (Santa Claus Has Concerns) November 1969

Pontiac, Michigan, USA (First half of 1970)

Die Psychologie (The Psychology) January 1970

Ein Lebensbegleiter (A Life’s Companion) February 1970

Geburtstagsgruß (A Birthday Greeting) February 9, 1970

Am Weglein Wartend (Waiting at the Side of the Road) August 6, 1970

Tucson, Arizona, USA (Second half of 1970)

Für den Vater (For Father) October 28, 1970

Ich hör ein Glöcklein klingen (I Hear a Little Bell Ringing) December 3, 1970

Tucson, Arizona, USA (1971)

Der Osterhase (The Easter Bunny) March 31, 1971

Die Anklage (Accusation) April 16, 1971

Frühlingsbote (Herald of Spring) May 6, 1971

Der Nachtbesuch (The Nightly Visitor) May 19, 1971

Ein Gast im Garten (A Guest in the Garden) May 23, 1971

Was sind wir? (What Are We?) August 26, 1971

Erntedank (Thanksgiving) September 3, 1971

Vergangene Weihnachten (Christmas Times of the Past) November 1971

Wenn der Himmel weint (When Heaven Cries) December 21, 1971

Die Werbung (The Courting) December 27, 1971

Tucson, Arizona, USA (1972)

Meine Muttersprache (My Mother Language) June 23, 1972

Des krummen Tännleins Lohn (The Crooked Little Tree’s Reward) December 5, 1972

Kam wohl der Nikolaus? (Did Santa Claus Come?) December 7, 1972

Tucson, Arizona, USA (1973)

Dreierlei verschlafen (Three Kinds of Oversleeping) March 9, 1973

Wohl bedacht! (Well Thought out) April 1, 1973

Wer hat … (Who Did …) August 26, 1973

Tucson, Arizona, USA (1975 to first half of 1978)

Keine deutsch geschriebene Gedichte eingetragen. (No poems written in German were entered.)

Los Angeles, California, USA (Second half of 1978)

Garino der Zigeuner (Garino, the