Sonnet To Then And Now

It makes me laugh to hear the people say

     Times ain’t like they used to be at all;

     That they can easily enough recall

When folks could earn a higher rate of pay,

And thus lay up more for a rainy day.

The weather then comes in and gets a whack;

     “The winters that we’re having now, by jo!

     Ain’t nothing like we had some years ago,

In sixty-five, or maybe further back.”

And there is nothing just the same, say they,

That compares with the good, old by-gone day.

     But when I ask them if they’d like to see

     The old days here and now, they look at me

And shrug and haven’t got a word to say.

Feb. 6, 1908