Pieter Caspersen van Naerden [1600-1664]
In your world,
where Amsterdam was New,
would I have known you?
We are not all that different.
Horsepower hauled my loads,
it’s true, but it would seem
alien to you, with oxen
drawing your wagon of spirits.
I never delivered beer,
but I’ve enjoyed drinking it.
Did you quaff a pint or two of ale
after a hard day’s work?
Your beer served warmer than lagers
and ales of today, had you seen
another fifty years you might have
enjoyed a porter or a stout, my favorites.
Across ten generations,
from one teamster to another,
here’s to you,
Pieter Caspersen van Naerden.
This poem is my response to Poetics: Back to Life, from Laura at dVerse Poets Pub, with the prompt to write a poem by reconstituting a dead person, one that is unknown to us, neither family nor famous. I’ve taken the liberty of choosing someone who may, or may not, be from my family tree. I’ve yet to confirm that.
rivrvlogr 
Wonderful, Ken. What a great way to theme something!
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Thanks, Steve.
It’s on back order, but once my time machine is finally delivered I’ll be having a beer with Pieter. 😉
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There’s something immensely grounding about the geometry of ages. We can always find a human quality to tether each point of “us” together, even in the most quotidian of things.
I’m sure of my origins, and since I’m from Iberia, those can be as varied as varied be. In my surreal cogitations, I imagine descending from some Umayyad Caliph from Al-Andalus; perhaps Hisham II himself.
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Knowing those roots can be enough, but that added personal insight is what adds a color to it that makes it so enticing.
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Well done Ken! Interesting questions and an interesting character as well!
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Thanks, Dwight.
Distant observations have a way of lending romance to otherwise mundane situations. Imagine Pieter cursing a broken wheel spoke or rim and the time and effort needed to repair it, while I would curse the ten minutes it takes to pull a tire and mount the spare on my car. I’d still like to know that life, even as an observer.
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Are you by chance from Dutch ancestry?
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If I can verify this connection, it would seem so.
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Interesting!
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That does seem like a strange world “with oxen
drawing your wagon of spirits”.
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I can look to the future as well, and long for the air car promised by the Jetsons!
Thanks, Frank.
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I read as a toast and think Pieter Caspersen van Naerden would love it.
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Thank you.
In an earlier comment I said one of my first time-travels will be to have a beer with Pieter. I’ll let you know how that goes. 😉
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I like the bridge you’ve built here. (K)
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Thanks, Kerfe. When I first learned about him I made a point to tell my son, who is a home brewer. I think he’s the one who pointed out the teamster connection.
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It would be so cool if you were related to him, Ken, a family occupation through generations. It is a sort of bridge, as Kerfe says, and a fine tribute. Children and adults might drink a low-alcohol beer at breakfast, but Pieter probably carted the stronger stuff.
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And he didn’t have to worry about Manhattan traffic back then. 😉
Thanks, Merril.
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😀
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what an intriguing way to resurrect by way of what you have in common across the many generations
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Thank you. And for all we know, he likely gave no thought to the distant future.
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So great to see an imaginative take on the prompt- I liked the details and the reflection of the way continuity gets built into family lines.aalso the toast- it does us good to honor the ancestors.
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Thank you. Here’s to the past, and hope for the future.
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