A Dream Of Lizzard Crick

Turnight my heart is longin’ an’ my pulse is beatin’ quick,

‘Cuz my thought hev gone a-driftin’ to the banks uv Lizzerd Crick;

To the scenes uv child an’ boyhood. to the stream I wooed an’ won,

Where the lilies on its bosom nod an’ sparkle in the sun.

An’ I see the grasses wavin’ an’ I hear a little swish,

An’ I know it is a muskrat, or a greedy, startled fish,

An’ I reach my han’ beside me, then I draw it backward quick

When I find I ain’t a fishin’ on the banks uv Lizzard Crick.

I kin see the darkened eddies where the water circles roun’,

Bearin’ chips an’ foamy white-caps, ever ridin’ up an’ down;

I kin see the slantin’ shadders ez they play ercrost the stream,

An’ the winders threw the branches castin’ here an’ there a gleam;

I kin see the sandy bottom, where the smaller stream unites,

Ever creepin’ further, further, ez each grain uv sand alights,

An’ I laugh ez I remember how our toes would never strick

To the bottom ez we youngsters tried to wade ercrost the Circk!

From the bend above the footbridge I kin hear the boy’s “halloo”,

An’ I know thet Billy Buzzy is a-hangin’ round there too;

An’ I answer with a war-whoop thet goes ringin down the glen,

An’ in less’n ha’f a minute we are “strippin’ off ergain”.

O the rivers way off yonder, miles an’ miles beyond my gaze,

Years hev come an’ years hev wandered sence them keerless, happy days;

But thank God my dreams lie closer, an’ they crowd my vision thick,

While my heart beats warm ez ever fur the banks uv Lizzard Crick!

March 23, ‘99

Sports Afield,

     May 1, ‘99