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David Joseph Yates

David Yates Obituary

IN MEMORY OF

David Joseph Yates
1/6/1957 - 1/17/2008
Happy 52nd Birthday
'And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then you shall truly dance.' - Gibran

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Charlotte Observer on Jan. 6, 2009.

Memories and Condolences
for David Yates

17 Entries

Debbie Midkiff

January 6, 2010

Happy Birthday Captain Dave!

When my grandson Augi was diagnosed with leukemia, Dave became his best "pal". Everyone, who knew Dave well, knows about the "Polio Soldiers". He had the widest shoulders and the deepest pocket of anyone I've ever known when there was a sick child or old person in need. Generous to a fault. He wore old boots that didn't fit because they belonged to a friend that he had lost, Charlie Ray. I can only imagine what he and Charlie Ray are up to today to celebrate his birthday! Whatever it is, they're laughing out loud.

This poem was written and delivered to Augi for his 6th Christmas, December 2007.
We published it as a small book so that Augi could draw illustrations
to match the words.

CAP'N AUG SAVES CHRISTMAS

It was Christmas eve upon the sea
where the pirate ship lay moored

The crew it was a festive bunch
as they danced upon the boards

The lights were all a twinkle
up in the rigging, high

All eyes were on the heavens
searching for Santa in the sky

Captain Aug was at the helm
and a captain good was he

The best of all the pirates
to sail the seven seas

As he gazed into the sky that night
among the stars so big and bright

He spied something falling.....
He hears someone calling

Through his trusty telescope
He saw Santa and his sleigh

He saw Santa was in trouble
so Aug was on his way

Raise the anchor, lower the sails
tell the dolphins, tell the whales

To follow us, to come this way
We must save Santa, his reindeer & sleigh

Across the sea with the greatest speed
Aug and his crew did sail

With all the sea creatures from the oysters to the whales

Santa shouted out to Aug
I need somewhere to land

Don't worry said Aug to Saint Nick,
there on the whales back and I'll show you a trick

The whale surfaced next to the ship
and Santa touched down & not a reindeer did slip

Augi called to the dolphin, come quick we need help
Go down to the oceans floor, ask the crabs to cut us some kelp

Aug ran down the whale, climbed up on the sleigh
And said Santa don't worry, you'll soon be on your way

Santa said, "Cap'n Aug you're a good pirate", I say
For without your help there would be no toys on Christmas Day

The dolphin returned from the depths of the sea
And gave Aug the kelp as Santa chuckled with glee

As fast as his fingers could weave, Aug showed the trick up his sleeve

With the kelp he fashioned a rope
to repair Rudolph's harness & return Santa's hope.

He tied the harness real good and real tight
And he shouted to Santa "That should hold for the night".

Santa said "Thank YOu" and said "Rudolph, let's fly"
From the whales back he took off, straight into the sky

The sleigh bells jingled as Santa sped on his way
Then he circled the ship and he had something to say,

To all you good pirates out here on the sea,
Merry Christmas to you from the reindeer and me!

The pirates all gathered and lifted Aug in the air
He was the hero, the one with red hair.

Now this is the story, it happened this way
How Aug saved Christmas, how he saved
Christmas Day!

Dave Yates,
Master of Words
Master of the Heart
Thanks for the lesson in
Unconditional Love!

Let the Hawk Soar in Freedom & Love

January 6, 2010

Happy Birthday Dave!

There was a place that Dave went to escape from the "busy" world that he lived in. He cherished his time there and the friends that waited anxiously when they knew he was on his way. In later years, he didn't tell them he was there for a few days so that he would have time to just enjoy his friend Brad and the farm.
This is what he wrote in the fall of 199. This one's for you Brad.

To reach the place called "Total Loss"
You've miles to travel
creeks to cross.

Black snake roads gently weave
through quiet hollows
past waving leaves.

To a humble house
a humble home
Where old souls roll
upon the loam.

Where friends gather
to trade hugs and
"what's the matter"

To greet each other
as true friends do
Some there forever
some passing through

Some there because
life's coin was tossed
The prize was theirs,
this "Total Loss".

Dave Yates,
A true friend and gentleman!

Happy Birthday Dear Friend

January 6, 2010

Today, your birthday, a special day to remember you and honor your time here with us and acknowledge the footprint you left behind. You loved many and many loved you, we all still do. I know that you would be happy to see the words that were woven so well in this guest book. I hope that everyone who reads them will find a small piece of you and have some comfort in one of your greatest gifts...the gift of poetry!

This was written for Alice.
December 1999

She loved
wildflowers
First we
picked them
put them in
old soda
bottles

Took them
home
to make the
house pretty

Later on I
picked them
took them home
to make the
house pretty

And to make
her smile
and hug me
And to make the
house pretty

When the wildflowers
were in slumber
I brought rocks
with neat colors
Driftwood where we
found faces
together
To make the
house pretty.

David Joseph Yates,
Poet

Crazy Kids Just "Us"

January 5, 2010

To you I pledge my love.
You are in each breathe I take.My heart is no longer mine,it now belongs to you.
My love knows not of limits.
You are my sun and moon,
my earth and my sky, with your eyes of blue..

To you, I give without condition:
The love of a thousand ages.
I cherish the ground on which you stand.
I cherish being able to share "Our Hallowed ground.
Come be with me, "My Angel" and allow me, the opportunity to show you..
I am the man you wish for.
As I am humbled and honored
To share my life with you.....
Always "Us as a "Pair".....
Forever is my for you, forever and a day...
Your David to my "BJ Baby"
December 2007

US Always

January 5, 2010

To awake each day with you in my arms, is to awake in heaven to the song of a thousand angels.
To share laughter with you is to remember a small brook of yester year, laughing as it passed.
To hold and protect you is to myself, a feel safe place to be..
Yes, love even hero's in Workboots need heroes.
To think of you or "Us","A Pair", is to feel happiness beyond imagination.
Actually, I feel I have loved you for an eternity.Perhaps in another place or life.
I don't know when nor do I know the length of eternity. Perhaps that also is priviledged information, for only gods to know or understand.
I do know that I love you from a near magical depth, deeper than even the gods could peer into. I love you and cherish you & "Us" for now and all eternity to come.....
David Yates
November 2007
Happy Birthday "My Love"...."BJ Baby"

Norma Godby & Buck Farley

January 5, 2010

I know this thing you call death
Cold of hands, vile of breath

Devoid of all that may seem good
A heart of stone or locust wood

I know the emptiness it brings
I've heard the awful song it sings

Seen the widows and babies cry
Ask God myself the questions why?

Ask God myself the question why?
Begged and pleaded for his reply

Why just now and not tomorrow
Must I bear this dread some sorrow

Then my God said to me,
"What happens in a forest with too many trees"?

What once was thought cooling shade,
Can be more harmful than the sharpest spade

Don't you know, oh child of mine
I weed the garden of the divine

Scratching earth and making room
For all my flowers to then give bloom

You trust the hand that brought the babe
You call me first when you need saved

Why then do you have such fear
When I touch someone you hold so near?

I'll take from you the final old
with bodies bent and gray and cold

Put back in your empty arms
The brand new child with all it's charms.

Dave Yates
September 1999

You Are My Hero Debbie~Dave

January 5, 2010

Oh Mother of Mother, I've questions to ask
Of long ago places that rest in your past
Of heroes on stallions, that ride in our mind
Share with me yours, if you'd be so kind
Ah Mother of Mother, oh silver of gray
Was there ever a moment, was there ever a day?
Did strong arms embrace you in a mystical place
While kisses were woven through the hair in your face?
Oh Mother of Mother your secrets I'll keep
To bring out & cherish while the world is asleep
Was there ever a moment that could not die
AS soft as the softness that rides in the sky
I know that my feelings are older than time
Please tell of yours, let's compare them to mine
Share your wisdom, your council of years
Was happiness yours, was it watered by tears?
Oh Mother of Mother, I've so much to learn
Did your spine give a quiver, did your soul then burn?
Are they all stored carefully, high upon a shelf
Do you harbor hopes they'll repeat themselves
Oh Mother of Mother I need you to share
And light the worn path as I travel there.

Written for Goldie, my grandmother.

Dave Yates
April 1999

Debbie & Dave Forever

January 4, 2010

The dust was a cloud atop the dirt road
and bramble and berries are all that now grow
Around an old Chevy, an old pickup truck
Now rusting away quietly in the place it was tucked

No longer do children ask for a ride,
they now take the hood on the snow for a slide.
It's old tires are quite tired now
Like the fading old barn or the rusted old plow.

But oh in it's day of shiny new paint
Parked in the shade bathed like a saint
Driven to Sunday school with it's precious load
of golden haired beauties, their ribbons a blow.

And it hauled the firewood that heated a home
and listen contently from outside alone
To the laughter of children or a new baby born
The news on the radio of a world badly torn

It caught the fancy of a budding young man
It made music, it was The Band
that played way past midnight on a night that will stay
Burned in his mind, forever and a day.

On a night when the wind found them asleep
The two of them there in a heap on the seat
The two of them there in humid surround
As gentle as the dew that waits on the
ground
An old piece of junk at final rest
who's given like many the world all it's best!
Dave Yates
July 1999

Norma & Buck

January 4, 2010

I bet we can find a mountain tall
Playing host to a waterfall
At the falls, there you and I
Attend the ballet of the dragonfly

Where behind the waters we may stand
and you be woman and I be man
Magic moments in the mist
What a passion lies within a kiss

A place alive and green
divided neatly by a stream
Where people meet, like you and I
and genies and fairies & dragonflies.

Debbie & Dave

January 4, 2010

What words might I find at the keys tonight?
That I may wish that I may write
To bring a smile across your face
or take you to a wilder place
If I find the moon, I'll write it round
and cast it's silky light on the ground
If I find a mountain, I'll write it high
and far away for you and I
If I see a star, I'll make it shoot
and sparkle like diamonds in a cat burglers loot.
If a waterfall comes into view,
I'll empty it's magic in an ocean of blue
And dragonflies as you well know
I'll have all saddled up and ready to go.
Dave Yates
May 1999

Bobbie Jo

January 3, 2010

As the "Moon" shines above I know you are still watching over me.... My heart is still yours as always.
My love for you is forever, forever and a day......
Your "BJ Baby".....

Debbie Loves

January 3, 2010

How old am I?
I was born in the year of 57
I know that to be a fact
or as close to fact as courthouse records admit
The year 57 of what century, I am unsure
Practicality tells me 1957, and so does the county clerk
Looking back, no matter over which shoulder
I find it hard to imagine all the ground covered in just 40 years
This leads me to believe my soul is of a more ancient time
No, I don't wish I lived in the good ole days
For all days and periods of time are good,
Even the bad induce growth
and allow us balance, and the ability to measure joy.
Dave Yates
11/31/97

Debbie Midkiff

January 2, 2010

If I could give you a gift just from me
I'd make it quite time in the company of trees
I'd send you some music from a bubbling stream
And a hickory bark basket to carry your dreams
I'd give you a mountain that pierced the clouds
A mountain for you far away from the crowds
Id give you the freedom that beckons within
Come out and play, me dearest, dear friend
I'd give you the sky, whlte billows and blue
And a month full of Mondays with nothing to do
I'd give it all from beginning to end
To a special young lady
Who calls me her friend.
Dave Yates
January 1999

Norma Godby

January 1, 2010

As the Red Shouldered Hawk circles in the clouds above me I think of you!

Debbie Midkiff

January 7, 2009

Ours was a promise
made straight from the heart
I'll be waiting.
Janurary 1997
Letter # 1
My Dear Friend,
I so enjoyed talking with you. I thought I would drop you a line. I am very pleased with your progress relating to the travel of your own path. I feel as though your load is getting lighter and your strides longer. To see someone going through positive advancement in life makes my heart light.
When we talk I hear more perhaps than you think you say. All things I hear from you exude a gentleness as warm as a June morining sun.
I am glad you are letting the rebel be known, rather than supressed. Oh, I don't mean a public broadcast, that is not necessary. What is necessary though...is your acceptance of your inner self. Remember, it is perfectly alright to be your own best friend. Just one more in the many you already have. Yet, one of the most important, I have to say.
I feel very blessed to call you friend.
Although the word friend seems a bit shallow for a person of your depth...
If I sound mushy, well I just am sometimes. You see, my pen is an extension of my heart and I fight not to control it. After all, we find bridles on too many things that should be let free.
Hey, you ever hear "A dreamer lives forever, a toiler dies in a day"? Let's be dreamers. Isn't it great to look in the mirror and see a butterlfy emerge? To fly freely, the cocoon merely a memory?
Fly my friend, squarely between Mother Earth and Father Sky
Follow your dreams and enjoy the journey
Stay in tune and please stay in touch,
Love Always,
D
David Joseph Yates
1/12/97

Norma Godby Loves

January 6, 2009

Happy Birthday My Love!
You introduced me to Gibran, written on the inside of a Marlboro Lights box...
"Ever has it been that LOVE knows not it's own depth until the hour of separation".
....sitting on a mossy rock somewhere time.
Looking toward the sky with LOVE in my heart.

Bobbie Jo

January 6, 2009

My life is yours, till time stands still
This life you made complete.
Eternity with you, my will
No one else could dare compete-DJY
My love for you is forever
Forever and a day.
Your "BJ Baby"

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