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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

RIME OF THE CROSS-CUT SAW by R. S. CLARK

First Line: I'VE OFTEN SAID, YOUNG FELLER
Last Line: YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'VE MISSED.
Subject(s): MEMORY;
I'VE often said, young feller,
An' I always shall insist
If you've never pulled a cross-cut
There's a heap of fun you've missed.
If you've never mauled a timber wedge,
An' hewed an oaken glut,
An' jerked a stump-saw lively
When the kerf was saggin' shut,
An' blocked the notch with cobble-stone
To make the timber jump,
An' watched the giant waver
An' topple on the stump,
An' felt the woods just quiver
With the ferver of his fall,
An' dodged the "widow makers"
Why, your cup ain't full at all.

I wouldn't take a fortune
For some memories that I've got
Of workin' with my Daddy
Down in our old timber lot.
If I lived to be a thousand,
With all the strength I had
I'd bless that spot, for there it was
That first I @3knew@1 my Dad!
An' while I'm on the subject
Just let me say there ain't
No place in all creation
Where two men can get acquaint
Like that same old country wood-lot
When the mornin' snow is clean
An' their two souls sing a-swingin'
With the singin' brier between.

I sometimes like to fancy
That when the earth was new
The Lord glanced round one mornin'
As he still continues to,
An' the City Folk were wicked,
But the Farmer Folk were good,
An' the Lord, by way of blessin',
Just invented cuttin' wood.
An' that's how I explain it,
An' that's why I insist
If you've never pulled a cross-cut
You don't know what you've missed.



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