Country Folks' Lament Poem by Paul the Lion

I been livin' on milk and bread
I save the eggs so the children are fed
I hold my head high so my wife don't see
What these hard times been doin' to me

We sing songs by the river where the frog's a croakin'
We smile and laugh so our spirits ain't broken
We read stories to the children by candlelight
Before we send 'em to bed at night

When we wake up in the mornin' we go milk the cow
Even though little Susie still don't know how
We check the chickens to see if they got eggs
And feed our old horse, though he's on his last legs

The disposition is still sunny in my wife Rachel
Though the price is down to a dollar a bushel
It'd be nice if the government could lend out a dime
But the local Congressman just don't seem to have the time

Each day I ask the children what they learnt in school
Tell 'em they're smart and their daddy's a fool
But soon I'll have to tell Bobby to quit goin'
Cuz at the farm I need help workin'

Someday soon here we'll be sellin' plenty of wheat
And then we'll have a whole lot to eat
Maybe we could even do good sellin' cotton
If the local Congressman wasn't so darn rotten

The city slickin' Congressman always talks so bluntly
But if he helped us out I'd still thank him kindly
Maybe I should run for Congress in our district of Southern Illinois
And show them city slickers us country folks can make some noise