Author Information
Above My Pappys Farm
Summer time to kids today
I think means lots of time to play
when I was a kid I played too
but summer time there was lots of work to do
and we worked hard
my two brothers and me
in the garden above my pappy's farm,
and still life seemed so full of charm
we'd till the ground
and pull the weed
and grew our food
from seed
and in the evening
we sang song
to pass
the time along
many times sneaking
our time to play
so daddy
thought we worked all day
early summer evenings
we hulled the peas we picked that day
and filled our bowls
sang country and gospel songs
to soothe our weary souls
then the tomatoes came
like a red stampede
and seemed like there were
more than we could ever need
we'd eat them sliced with dinner
in salads and in stews
and can them whole,
in paste, and juice
the ones we couldn't use
on the back porch
after dusk
the corn we'd picked
we'd husk
and we sang song
to make time go by
as we labored hard, and long
with sun burned backs
and necks and arms
and our lives
so filled with charms
like sunday sermons in the grove
beside that little church
and walks though the woods and meadows
time for our souls to search
and childhood loves
and broken hearts
and crazy inventions put together
with old lawn mower parts
and in the night we'd snip string beans
and snap them once in two
and fill our bowls
and sing our songs
to soothe our weary souls
and I'll never forget
so many smells
the dairy smelled like
milk and cream
mom puttin' up
strawberry preserves
that smelled just like a dream
and other smells, smelled good,
but also smelled like work
like the smell of fresh mowed hay
all summer long
I must have thrown a thousand bales a day
it seemed like lots of work
for very little pay
thank god we found time
for play
some days so hot
our minds would stray
and we'd float on our backs
in pappy's pond all day
and other days hot or not
the work was there to do
slow and steady in the sun
untill the day was through
but now oh how happy
I could be
picking beans and singing
I wish I was an apple swingin' on a tree
my simple was life
was all the charm
above my
pappy's farm
