Boys Poem by Judd Mortimer Lewis

Boys'll soon be playin' hookey,
You kin find 'em, bless their souls,
Out along the twisty bayou
In th' finest swimmin' holes,
Doin' all the stunts that we did
When we used to run away
From our schools away back yonder—
Or was it just yesterday?

It don't seem like 'way back yonder,
It seems more like just last week
When we'd start out, faces shinin'
And our hair combed just as sleek
As could be, for the old school house
Till we turned the corner, then
It would be a helter-skelter
For the swimmin' hole again.

It's like breakin' colts to harness
Bringin' of a boy up right;
You must see the lines don't chafe him,
That his bridle ain't too tight,
That the first ways that you drive him
Are the ways he'd like to go,
Gentlin' him an' talking to him,
Goin' carefully an' slow.

When you've got your colt well broken,
Trained him so he'll gee an' haw,
So he'll come when you shall call him,
So he'll brace himself an' draw
For each pound that there is in him,
So he knows his home an' stall,
Spite of all the care you give him,
He'll be just a horse, that's all.

But a boy—there ain't no tellin'
What he won't be, guided right;
So when your boy plays at hookey,
Runs away or has a fight,
Then's the time to get close to him,
Not turn from him with a frown
Like the universe was crumpled
By his acts, and tumblin' down.

So when he comes home some evenin'
With his shirt on wrongside out,
An' his collar soft an' wilted,
An' liis hair all tossed about,
Don't bear down too hard upon him
Like he'd done some fearful crime,
He's just been anticipatin'
Of the glad vacation time.