A Song From Mama's Swing

"October is my favorite month"
She’d tell me every year
It was the month that she got married
And it was when she left us here

And she walked about and she graced this world
‘Till she was nearly 84
With a head as hard as granite
And her feet flat on the floor

And she loved a man who turned out to be
Someone, sometimes she didn’t know
And when he died, she turned forty five
With a long row yet to hoe

And he left her in her favorite month
In a broken down old house
With not a single penny to her name
And nigh a tooth left in her mouth

And thought how fast it slips away
From seconds into years
And I kissed her on the forehead
Already wet with tears

 Now a little time has come and gone
Since mama passed away
As I sit here on mama's swing
I write these words this way

But it was her children’s children
That made her world complete
She had their birthdays written down
Big enough to see
 
 

I know if we could hear her pray
She’d pray that we’d live right
So someday we would know the joy
She has in her new life

‘Cause, her favorite month’s October
She told me every year
And while the leaves were still yet falling
That’s when she left us here