Solemn Pines Poem by Liilia Talts Morrison

Those were the days when solemn pines
stood silently in rows
beside the yellowed grass on roads
few locals ever chose

A wooden fence had little chance
a fire ants delight
gray armadillos slow and calm
would burrow there at night

A little wayside home there was
with well and not much more
no shouts or fancy fixin's there
just simple daily chores

Time was it housed a family
of gentle pious ways
whose lives were sheltered by the pines
and veiled in hardship's haze

The mother was a widow plain
who trusted in the Lord
the children blessed with health in dearth
as hardships were ignored

The woods in back were thick with burs
no place to hide or seek
yet here and there at evening time
a passion flower would peek

Nobody visited there much
a preacher now and then
might drop on in to make a call
and sound a loud 'Amen.'

Those days are far beyond the past
the house abandoned sits
there are no pictures and no tales
of eating bread and grits

The weeds are grown and piney tar
still fills the morning air
the cypress knees still burble up
on soil left without care

There are some times when only faith
sustains and holds one up
yet all those challenges of yore
may someday fill one's cup

Those were the days when solemn pines
stood silently in rows
beside the yellowed grass on roads
few locals ever chose.