This is a poem about my Grandfather Irvin Stirling. Now he's 87 years old and still happy, optimistic, and hilarious.

To: Irvin “Pops” Stirling

A Fisherman’s Heart


On a Duson farm
Hardworking for nails
The pay is play
For fishhooks they’ll form.

Without any shoes
On a long, worn track
Running to meet opportunities
To Lafayette and back.

Glorious victories across the state
Setting track records of time.
A hardworking farm boy’s dream,
Caught and reeled in with only
potatoes and corn for dimes.

Enlisted to serve the country you love
Patriotically defending our freedom,
By sharing your spirit and keeping our planes,
Flying in the blue sky above.

But all the aging while
Far at home
A beautiful wife and a first-born child
Waited alone.

Through trials of parenting,
From dynamics of business
Molded a respectable MAN
Many have been privileged to witness.




From a Duson farm
86 years have passed.
Many coolers have been filled,
And millions of delicious crawfish peeled.

But the love, thankfulness, and responsibility to each other…
Those things you teach while you cast…
Enlighten like the bays orange sunrise

Your light of wisdom will always last.



Happy Birthday!
1/26/03