I remember pickled pig's feet, <br /> potatoes an hog jowl. <br />People never use to waste food, <br />not the way they do now. <br /> <br />Fresh greens gathered in the springtime, <br /> delicious fried mushrooms. <br />Hickory wood for the smoke house, <br /> food in the cellar room. <br /> <br />Mama cookin'in the kitchen, <br />hens scratchin' near the door. <br />Daddy trackin' in coal dust on, <br /> the clean linoleum floor. <br /> <br />At night trippin' over rocks till, <br />I found that out-house door. <br />Fridays walkin' down the 'hard-road', <br />to the 'company store'. <br /> <br />All of the sweet familiar ways, <br /> of not so long ago. <br /> Forever gone as fallen leaves, <br /> when the coldest winds blow. <br /> <br />Gone but not forgotten never, <br /> replaced by better ways. <br /> A melancholy fare thee well, <br /> to all the 'good old days'. <br /> <br />I carry all these memories, <br /> and many, many more, <br />Left-over rag-tag remnants of, <br /> some old 'Hill-Billy Lore', <br /> <br />Saturday nights were for bathin', <br /> in a number 9 tub, <br />Mama heatin' up the water, <br />so all could take a scrub. <br /> <br />Daddy was always the last one, <br /> thats how it was back then. <br />Because you gotta save water, <br /> when you pack it all in. <br /> <br />Daddy shavin' in a mirror, <br /> above the kitchen sink. <br />Mama cookin up some breakfast, <br /> given' Daddy a wink. <br /> <br />Walkin' to the 'Sunday Meetin', <br />as we hear the church bell. <br />Preacher is rollin' up his sleaves, <br />preachin' Heaven and Hell. <br /> <br />All of the sweet familiar ways, <br /> of not so long ago. <br />Forever gone as fallen leaves, <br /> when the coldest winds blow. <br /> <br />Gone but not forgotten never, <br /> replaced by better ways. <br /> A melancholy fare thee well, <br /> to all the 'good old days'. <br /> <br />I carry all these memories, <br /> and many, many more, <br />Left-over rag-tag remnants of, <br /> some old 'Hill-Billy Lore'. <br /> <br /> <br />c.d.m.2012<br /><br />cheryl davis miller<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hill-billy-lore/
