THE
HOUSE BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD
March
28, 1973
When
I was a little boy long years ago
We lived by the side of the road
There was no place for a garden
And there was no grass to be mowed
There
were men working the roads daily
Using a scraper in making the grade
There were also other men helping
As they had a pole tax to be paid
The
scraper was drawn by two horses
And those horses they did often beat
And the language that they were using
Is not even fit for me to repeat
My
older brother John was always
listening
To every thing that they said
And instead of using his own
language
He was using some of theirs instead
So
he hitched up two of his older sisters
Used a couple of long strings for a line
And drove them all up and down the yard
Thinking he was having a wonderful time
My
mother was watching as usual
And heard what brother John was saying
So she immediately stopped all this nonsense
And after this reprimand he was obeying
Going
back in thought I remember
That little house by the side of the road
As there was no place for a garden
But there were cricket, grasshopper and toad
When
I was a wee little bit of a baby
They put me in a box to stay
While my two older sisters often
Would steal a few minutes to play
There
was a faithful dog to guard me
As they went off to have their play
And he would sit there hour after hour
Keeping all harm and danger away
These
are just a few things that happened
When we lived in the house by the side of the road
My folks were always very poor but fighting
For better things where no grass had to be mowed
By
Joseph Edward McLaughlin