Author Information
SAD FIGURE, LAUGHING
She had walked the lonely trails of time
where meadows once were green
she smiled
when life treated her rough
but I never heard her sing
At night she'd sit and think of things
that happened long ago
sometimes her life seemed happy
but most oft she took the blow
She raised six kids there all alone
her husbanl left her there
he died of old age at forty three
full of worry and bowed down with care
She hoe'd the corn and milked the cow
and picked the peas and beans
an old straw hat upon her head
to hide the tears, it seems
When ever you would see her
her pretty eyes just shone
she'd smile and say that she was fine
but she oft times wept alone
Sometimes when it was dark
she'd lay there on her bed
the shutters drawn and all alone
a small lamp at her head
and she read the old love letters
from her beau
before their wedding day
when life was full and not so hard
before he went away
She dreamed of balls and bridal showers
and all that pulling taffy
of pretty frocks and fancy hats
such things that made her happy
Then a tear would trickle down her cheek
so wrinkled, soft and old
for life had dealt her many trials
and her freedom had been sold
But next morning when she arose
her smile was sweet and bright
to greet her kids at start of day
and no one knew she'd cried all night
and each night when it was dusk
she'd take her old feed sack
and with her sythe she'd go and cut some grass
from the pasture in the back
to feed her milk cows there in the barn
that she put there every night
for they might get hungry with no way to feed
and it would hold them till the light
When I was young I used to love
to sit upon her knee
and she'd tell me stories of her childhood
when her life was wild and free
but sometimes as she would sit there
I'd see a frown go 'cross her face
and I knew she thought of days gone by
another tme, another place
My grand Ma lived till she was ninety five
she was old and filled with pride
and tho she kept happy face
I knew she cried inside
