TheOldHouse©2022TonyFallon0325

 TheOldHouse©2022TonyFallon0325

I checked all the windows and locked the door

And walked away slowly for evermore

There were some sad old memories every where

And on my lips and heart a thankful prayer

No longer would I be an occupier

Once I handed the keys to the new buyer

It was a little house before expansion

For over fifty five years it was our mansion

I always considered it to be partly mine

Even three thousands of miles over the brine

With my parents alive there was always a bed

Alas as I was leaving they were both dead

We buried mother in the family plot

When my father had died it had been bought

I remember when we lived in simplicity

I remember when we got electricity

Before that it was the oil lamp or a candle

And you got butter by turning the churn's handle

Mam would never give up the wood kitchen stove

But she was proud of the freezer in the alcove

Our running water came from the local spring well

And if you didn't hurry up my mother would yell

No more late nights will I run up the stairs

Or help my father with the household repairs

No more bring in big bags of turf for the fire

Or get scrapes on my arms from the thorny briar

No more go evening walking on the narrow road

Or linger on the bridge where the river flowed

No more sitting there listening all alone

To seventy-eight records on the gramophone

Remember when parents would so loudly yell

And declare you were surely going to hell

Parents in those times faced such terrible odds

And very few of us were spared the sally rods

There were no thermostats to be controlled

In mid January it was very cold

So cold in the morning that you would dread

Having to leave your small warm cozy bed

Downstairs we would first in prayer have to kneel

Before the bacon eggs sausages and oatmeal

Think again of cold hail or warm summer rain

Or the cuckoo's or a corncrakes sweet refrain

There were many illnesses that were fatal

To adults or those still not out the cradle

In the churchyard were buried uncles and aunts

Not every young boy lived to wear a long pants

In the eight school years you learned the word fear

For the punishment was often severe

Often nowadays when I backwards gaze

I realize now those were tough old days