Friday, August 25, 2006
Hope for Emancipation
Hope for Emancipation
Kids wait these days for summer with great anticipation:
three months of resting in the shade or going on "vacation".
When I was young, that dandy word was subject to translation.
In olden times, our summers held few pleasant expectations,
just scorching days of hoeing weeds, the slowest cultivation,
down long rows far from water, to the point of dehydration.
The sweat and toil we all endured, like slaves on old plantations,
was seldom cause for great concern of likely heat prostration.
The lips and tongue grew parched and dry for lack of salivation
and the dirty canvas water bag earned much appreciation.
When hoeing for the neighbors, a part-time occupation,
we earned our spending money, a spark of motivation.
As days crept toward September, with cause for exultation,
we gladly laid our hoes aside for formal education.
About our future plans and dreams, we had no reservations;
we'd make tracks far from this old farm right after graduation.
Cora Gail Trent
www.cgtrent.com
Kids wait these days for summer with great anticipation:
three months of resting in the shade or going on "vacation".
When I was young, that dandy word was subject to translation.
In olden times, our summers held few pleasant expectations,
just scorching days of hoeing weeds, the slowest cultivation,
down long rows far from water, to the point of dehydration.
The sweat and toil we all endured, like slaves on old plantations,
was seldom cause for great concern of likely heat prostration.
The lips and tongue grew parched and dry for lack of salivation
and the dirty canvas water bag earned much appreciation.
When hoeing for the neighbors, a part-time occupation,
we earned our spending money, a spark of motivation.
As days crept toward September, with cause for exultation,
we gladly laid our hoes aside for formal education.
About our future plans and dreams, we had no reservations;
we'd make tracks far from this old farm right after graduation.
Cora Gail Trent
www.cgtrent.com
