Hard Times Poem by Albert Ahearn

I didn't have much as a kid;
Oh, we were always fed and clad.
but for luxuries, God forbid!
Two-bits a week was all I had.
Fifteen cents spent on a movie
The remaining ten bought candy
Even that wasn't guaranteed.
Picking a landfill was handy
When money wasn't to be had
I'd pick the dump for tin and rags
And head for the junkyard with dad
Carrying the days find in bags.
Although a youth I recognized
the wounded pride in daddy's eyes.