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if it weren't for the memories, would we really make it through without lessons learned from our childhood roots,,,

from acres~to~oceans
by coni lea harris

I stand at the top of the hill
I once thought was a mountain
the first one to make it to the
top meant
you weren’t going to fall
into the poverty of life

I look over the acres
once my stomping ground
reliving childhood memories

There still stands the old barn
I can still here daddy’s advice
when we groomed horses
it kept the hay dry
stray cats kept it mice free
many a nights shelter us
waiting for new life to be born
where you learn death meant
gone forever

The house is still standing
new life has taken over
I can still
smell mom’s cooking
grandma’s humming
with the sewing machine
by the open window

looks like more rooms added to
our two plus the fireplace, to
the six already standing when
we moved in
curious imagination of layers
of wall paper and paint covered
ours
What would the walls tale if
they could tell

Now new crop barely makes
it way from seed to market
the land so over used
keeping generations fed
the animals too
with many seeds embe dded
underneath for food to grow
some to table
wheat~n~grass
for animal

life being a kid wasn’t bad,
I after all was a
pretty lucky
I had the taste of
city and farm life adventure
just farm life made you more
tougher in a different sort of way
it really didn’t matter where you lived
death and life you knew early

all has become just memories
I can only visit the land they
were made upon
ghost voices
still hovering
always will
mingling with the others
before~n~ after
us

now years have passed
from acres to oceans

I’m standing on a new mountain
the body of water
now my stomping grounds
Captain of a vessel I conquered
with the lessons I learned from an
early age conquering the mountain
to keep me from falling into poverty

reliving childhood memories
to get me through the ruff times
of my adulthood, helps to forget
bad memories too.
I can still here daddy’s advice
smell mom’s cooking
grandma’s humming
with the sewing machine
some things never change

just added to
for now I’ve added more
painted journey of my life
some I wish hadn’t came along
but I’ve found every tale has
a regret or two

now that I’ve reached
the age of my forty-something
voyage in life
some things I wouldn’t do again
some I wouldn’t change
but all I can say is
I have one more lesson
chalked up
to come in handy to conquer
my next mountain
that is to be battled

on my voyage from
acres to oceans

today is my retirement day
no more paid voyages for me
only for fun~n~adventure
it was hard when they first
told me, it would be best
for me to turn over my charge
I did want to believe
I wasn’t about to give it all up
not just like that

a cowboy gets back on
one more time
so I went back out
only to prove to myself

the last one meant
the
last
one

so here I am one more time
standing at the bottom of
some hill,
that once was a mountain
that I know I’ll conquer
with lessons I learned
from the battles I’ve fought
getting here from
acres to oceans
to another journey
that has begun
to keep one from falling
into the
the poverty of life
from the memories
when I let myself relive
to
dream
of my homeland
the acres of Texas