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Open Poetry #42
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Abe
Senior Member
since 2003-05-28
Posts 694
Looks like Vero Beach, FL until the end!

0 posted 2008-04-09 10:13 AM



MAMA’S FRONT PORCH SWING
(A story a friend told me)

Lookin’ back I can remember
The great wonders that youth brings
Being a child chasing butterflies
Daydreams and wonderful things.

Gettin’ up early, Mom fixin’ breakfast
Raised like most kids of the day
A p&j in abrown paper bag
Then off to school, sent on our way.

Mama and Daddy raisin’ seven kids
And our little dog we named Rowdy
Mama teaching from the Good Book
“If Jesus wouldn’t, then, neither can we!”

Sometimes we didn’t want to go
Off to Church on Sunday mornings
But she made sure, we heard God’s word
And sometimes the Preacher’s warnings.

We lived in a white, two story house
With a big front porch with a swing
I still go back in time to that place
To a peace of mind it still can bring.

Mama always loved sittin’ there
And watchin’ people passin’ by
Some would stop and talk to her
Some would wave and just say, “Hi!”

Weloved sittin’ there with Mama
My brothers, sisters and me
Swingin and talkin’, takin’ turns
‘Cause that swing would just hold three.

We sometimes talked for hours
Nothing important, just chit chat
Among siblings who were friends
But, that’s really where it’s at!

We sit out there and string beans
Sometimes bushels at a time
Mama would dry them in the basement
And bring ‘em back at special suppertimes.

Sometimes sitting at day’s end
In the quiet and dark of night
The clock church bells would chime
Bring a peace and make things right.

We had one favorite neighbor
Old man Woodrow was his name
He’d come and sit with knife and wood
His carvings never were the same.

He’d whittle and whistle away
Most always, Amazing Grace
And then he’d go away promising
He’d soon stop back by our place.

Bobby sounded like Johnny Cash
Who was his favorite country star
He was a man, just full of joy
‘Long as he could sing and play guitar.

He was one of those special kind
Whose heart was made ofpure gold
The type you hear stories about
The kind that never will grow old.

If there was no one on the porch
The mailman knocked upon the door
Mama would greet him with lemonade
Or hot chocolate, what’ere the season called for.

I remember him sitting on the swing
Where he too, found a peaceful rest
Seems every time it was needed
That ol’ porch swing passed the test.

Across the street there was a grade school
Where Papa worked to keep it clean
We watched the kids come and go
From first to five and in between.

Rowdy lived out his dog years
Woodrow and Bobby’s Up Above
A new mailman now stops to rest
On that swing still filled with love.

Papa finally got his work days done
And he and Mama sit and sing
On that porch we all once shared
Waiting our turn upon that swing.

I still stop and sit awhile myself
And think of those times gone past
Of all those memories of my Life
Of all those years that went so fast.


Del "Abe" Jones
Mankind's greatest accomplishment is not the revolution of technology, it is the evolution of creativity.

© Copyright 2008 Del - All Rights Reserved
Seoulair
Senior Member
since 2008-03-27
Posts 807
Seoul S.Korea
1 posted 2008-04-09 11:57 AM


Ah, life, of long or short, good memories all make them a happy one.
Love the read. love the read. my morning coffee.

Bonnie j
Senior Member
since 2003-06-27
Posts 1588
Ohio
2 posted 2008-04-09 01:12 PM


Ah! The comforting memories of the old porch swing. A neighbor had a swing and as a kid I loved to sit and talk and listen to my mom ..talking about their gardens, what they were going to can or bake. The laughter. Oh! how I miss thoses times.
I will share with you one I wrote about the old porch swing called: Book of Loving Memories.
Hugs BonBon

Marge Tindal
Deputy Moderator 5 ToursDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-06
Posts 42384
Florida's Foreverly Shores
3 posted 2008-04-09 07:41 PM


Abe~
How delightfully we are getting to know you even better through these touching stories you share with us~

*Huglets*
~*Marge*~

~*The sound of a kiss is not as strong as that of a cannon, but it's echo endures much longer*~
Email -             noles1@totcon.com

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