by Kat Ballew

Created on: June 22, 2010   Last Updated: June 24, 2010

Oh my child, you sigh and moan,
You sing the blues, a melancholy song
Your head hung down, how could everything go wrong,
Your heart is in distress, you feel so all alone

You lost your cell phone,
You have nothing to wear,
Your nails need a manicure
You don’t like your hair

Well listen my child,
To the days of old,
It will make you thankful
Your troubles will seem small. 

In days of long ago when life was
Simple and carefree,
We had no television sets,
No Playstations 1 or 2, or Wii’s. 

A long dirt road by the railroad tracks
We gathered everyday,
Half-rubber, hopscotch, hide-and-seek
Were the games that children played 

No telephones, cell phones or fancy clothes
No fancy tennis shoes
Our clothes, they were all hand-me-downs
No piercings or tattoos. 

Hard times, you say? You couldn’t endure?
My child you do not know,
What hard times are, you have it made,
Carrying your ipod and laptops where you go 

Beans and potatoes bread and soup
An orange or apple for a treat
We had no fast food, pizza or fries
We rarely could afford to have meat 

We rose at dawn to do our chores
Before we went to school
Even on weekends we worked the field
We had no fancy swimming pools 

We walked for miles to school everyday
To us it was a treat
To get away from work and meet
Our friends on the old dirt street 

We could not wait to go to class
To learn all that we could
We were happy to get a pencil
And paper, we listened and learned as we should 

 The mischief that we got into
Was jumping in the swimming hole
It was filled with muddy water
And we looked a sight to behold 

We did our lessons by candlelight
We read out loud every night
Our parents were so proud of us
And it filled us with delight 

Our goal was to behave,
And do what our parents told us to do
And when we didn’t or we disobeyed
Our behinds got a switchin’ or two 

Ah, those were the good ole’ days
Compared to the times of today,
You say it seemed like hard times to you,
But to us, life was special in every way. 

Oh my child, you sigh and moan,
You sing the blues, a melancholy song
Your head hung down, how could everything go wrong,
Your heart is in distress, you feel so all alone 

How would you react,
If you had no food to eat
And the only thing warm to wear
Were the holey socks on your feet? 

No heaters, only a fireplace,
That is if there was any wood,
With five children piled in one bed
To keep warm as best they could 

But still our laughter found its way
From tear stained eyes it spilled,
When everyone was afraid at night
We comforted each other, our hearts fulfilled. 

You’re smiling my sweet child
I love the sight of that
What’s that you say?
You feel spoiled rotten, like a spoiled brat? 

Ah, don't my child, It’s all what we get used to you see,
but I wouldn’t change a thing for me
For hard times that they may seem to be
Were the best years of my life, you see.

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