THINKIN’ BACK

I've ben thinkin’ back, of late,

S'prisin’!— And I'm here to state

I'm suspicious it's a sign

Of age, maybe, or decline

Of my faculties,— and yit

I'm not feelin’ old a bit —

Any more than sixty-four

Ai n'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’ — Ooh! my-oh!

Wonder now we had n't died!

Grate horseradish on my hide

Jes’ a-thinkin’ how cold then

That-‘ ere worter must‘ a’ ben!

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 him 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!