Counting pennies, to buy a loaf of bread <br />More often than not, hungry going to bed <br />Us carrying mothers sewing machine, every thirty days <br />Three blocks to the pawn shop, till the welfare check pays <br />Got the welfare check, would get the sewing machine out <br />We'd pawn it again next month, without a doubt <br />Living on commodities, free peanut butter and cheese <br />Going to school without a coat we'd always freeze <br />We never had many nice clothes to wear <br />Mother would mend them when they began to tear <br />Having meat for dinner was a real rare thing <br />Breakfast and supper, beans and rice we were eating <br />We wore our shoes until they fell apart <br />Mother could only buy one of us a pair, at the mart <br />Quiet often we were left all by ourselves <br />While mother worked or went out for cocktails <br />The days weren't so bad alone, we were in school <br />But young and left alone at night was really cruel <br />Feeling so alone, just us three <br />Please stay home tonight mama, we'd plea <br />Times were hard when I was a child <br />This poem I've written, is putting it mild<br /><br />Donna Nimmo<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/growing-up-hard/
