I'VE be'n thinkin' back, of late, S'prisin'! -- And I'm here to state I'm suspicious it's a sign Of age, maybe, er decline Of my faculties, -- and yit I'm not feelin' old a bit -- Any more than sixty-four Ain't no young man any more! Thinkin' back's a thing 'at grows On a feller, I suppose -- Older 'at he gits, i jack, More he keeps a-thinkin' back! Old as old men git to be, Er as middle-aged as me, Folks'll find us, eye and mind Fixed on what we've left behind -- Rehabilitatin'-like Them old times we used to hike Out barefooted fer the crick, 'Long 'bout Aprile first -- to pick Out some "warmest" place to go In a-swimmin' -- @3Ooh! my-oh!@1 Wonder now we hadn't died! Grate horseradish on my hide Jes' @3a-thinkin'@1 how cold then That-'ere worter must 'a' be'n! Thinkin' back -- W'y, goodness me! I kin call their names and see Every little tad I played With, er fought, er was afraid Of, and so made @3him@1 the best Friend I had of all the rest! Thinkin' back, I even hear Them a-callin', high and clear, Up the crick-banks, where they seem Still hid in there -- like a dream -- And me still a-pantin' on The green pathway they have gone! Still they hide, by bend er ford -- Still they hide -- but, thank the Lord (Thinkin' back, as I have said), I hear laughin' on ahead! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DOMESDAY BOOK: WIDOW FORTELKA by EDGAR LEE MASTERS NORTH WIND TO DUTIFUL BEAST MIDWAY BETWEEN DIAL & FOOT OF GARDEN CLOCK by MARIANNE MOORE ABYSS by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS SMALL BEGINNINGS by CHARLES MACKAY DRINKING SONG, FR. THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL by RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN INVITATION by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS |