Allen E. Rupp (Founder) - First Cabin [1931]
LAKE LAUZON POEM
Like an illusive dream
Your total serenity escapes me
Until that battered, rut-torn path
We call our road
Leads me once again to your shores.
The cabin still stands,
Nestled in pine and birch,
Reflecting the love of four generations.
Down the sandy path I walk thru the years,
Recalling each grandly constructed
outhouse,
Decorated with only the "finest"
Esquire and Rockwell reprints;
Remembering the ice house in its finer days,
Before day lilies and outboard motors
lined the door.
The once treasured honey moon boat
of two young lovers
Now rests between two cedar trees,
The home of summer flowers,
Cared for by the bereted pioneer of this
Northern Woods retreat…
His 50 year utopia to bequeath
To sons and daughters who share
A similar dream.
The path leads to your sandy shores,
Crystal waves gently lapping the dock,
Boats tethered to brace a North wind.
The Dory of decades past,
Given new life through a son’s loving hands
Carries me the blue distance to the island…
Your ultimate treasure of serenity -
Haven for gulls and sandpipers,
With blueberries creeping up the porch
of the one room shack,
Where wood burning stove and kerosene
lamp
Await to warm the cool night.
It is here on your pristine shores
Where I recall with ease
Idyllic childhood memories…
Tributes to the young couple
who gave through the years
Love and prosperity of this North Woods
way of life
To children, grandchildren,
And all who paused on these shores.
It is here, lying on the sunbaked rock
of your island gift
Where all past decisions find unity
And all life’s paths lead me home.
~B. Rupp
July 1977