WHEN we wuz kids together, an' we didn't have a care, <br />In the lazy days of summer, when our feet wuz allus bare, <br />When a hat warn't necessary, an' a necktie in the way, <br />An' there warn't a blessed thing t' do but scamper off an' play; <br />Then th' sun meant somethin' to us, an' the blue skies overhead <br />Kinder stooped down in th' meadows where we children wuz, an' said: <br />'Trout are bitin' in th' mill stream, hurry up an' git yer pole, <br />Now's th' time you should be hikin' 't' yer fav'rit fishin' hole.' <br /> <br />When we wuz kids together, an' there warn't a thing t' fret, <br />' Cept comin' home t' mother with our hair suspicious wet, <br />Then th' sunbeams an' th' song birds used t' come t' us an' say: ' <br />They are swimmin' in th' river, better git there right away, <br />As we passed 'em we could hear 'em laughin', splashin' down below.' <br />Then we hurried t' th' river, jus' as fast as we could go, <br />For there warn't a thing t' keep us, like there is now we are men, <br />An' th' sunbeams an' th' song birds an' the skies meant somethin' then. <br /> <br />Now th' same sunbeams come callin', an' th' same song birds come near, <br />And the same blue skies bend o'er me and their messages I hear; <br />Every dancing sunbeam tells me that out yonder in the stream <br />Now the pickerel are biting, but I only sit and dream; <br />For I've journeyed past my boyhood, I 'm a slave forevermore, <br />And I must not heed their whispers as I used to do of yore; <br />There are bills to meet and duties that I must not, dare not shirk, <br />Mr. Sunbeam, quit yer coaxin', it's no use, I've got t' work.<br /><br />Edgar Albert Guest<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/when-we-were-kids-4/
