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Title
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Nostalgia: a poem by Margaret Durham
Hill
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Description
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Once upon a time
Many years ago,
Lived fourteen little children
Now scattered to and fro!
The dad's name was Joseph.
The people call him "Joe."
The mom's name was Denver.
How she could cook and sew!
She specialized in lemon pies,
And corn cut from the cob,
Okra fried in a black iron pot,
And fried chicken from the yard,
Black-eyed peas, turnip greens,
Green beans, Irish potatoes, too,
Potato pies, gingerbread,
And chicken dumpling stew.
You couldn't forget the coconut cakes,
Or egg custards that she made.
All this was served with a big, tall jar
Of ice-cold lemonade!
But when someone was naughty,
And not so good, you see,
They'd get an extra dose or two
Of steaming "Hickory tea!"
This family had eight strong and handsome sons.
They were Wick, Joe, Dock, Cal,
Jay, Paul, Charles,
And the youngest one was Tal.
Also in this family were six girls
As pretty as the sun!
They were Mack, Eunk, Evelyn, Velma,
Doris, and Margaret, the prettiest one.
So this "Joe", he bought some land
And decided to settle down
On a farm somewhere near the Tiger River,
About fifty miles from town!
There were fields to plow,
Cotton to pick and hoe,
Animals to feed and water,
Seeds to plant and sow,
Cows to milk,
Weeds to pull,
Milk to churn and strain,
And buckets full of water
Had to be brought up from the spring.
They couldn't go to dances
Or listen to blues on the radio.
They couldn't go to honky-tonks,
Or the local picture show.
You may think this life was dull,
But that's far, far from the fact.
Life around this farm
Was always action packed!
They had their fun.
They had their games,
Like "Jack-in-the-beanstalk-cut-him-down,"
Jump rope, tom walkers, shoot-shoot,
And flying June bugs all around.
You see they knew they were special.
Their parents made them know,
That honor, truth, respect, and love
Are the things that make kids grow!
Now these kids are all grown up.
The mom and dad are dead and gone, But the lessons they learned down on this farm
Will always linger on!
The Joseph C Durham Family