At the Bars of Memory and Other Poems/Since the Boys Went Away
SINCE THE BOYS WENT AWAY
I've been sittin' around all day, I have,
Just noddin' an' nappin' an' wonderin' when
The boys will be comin' back home again,
An' I have been wishin' they was here, I have.
Ain't no use tryin' to forget, it ain't,
'Cause they's gone an' let mother an' me—
An' we just can't help wonderin' where they be
'Cause they never write back to us, they don't.
There was curly-haired Jim, our pet, he was—
An' mother planned an' planned on him
Stayin' right here—little curly-haired Jim—
But he's gone to the front to fight, he has.
An' Sam, he always used to say, he did,
That he'd never leave us old folks alone
'Til our names was cut in a slab o' stone—
But he answered the call an' rode away, he did.
An' Billy—well, he was kind o' wild, he was.
An' he always wanted to rove an' roam;
He wa'n't contented in the old farm home—
But we cried when he went away, we did.
No. it ain't that we's selfish, no it ain't.
But it's lonesome out here on the old home place.
An' mother's growin' haggard in her eyes an' face
'Cause the boys don't never write, they don't.
I've been sittin' around all day, I have,
Just noddin' an' nappin' an' wonderin' when
The boys will be comin' back home again,
An' I have been wishin' they was here, I have.