Following are a few poems from the above titled
booklet given to family members.
HOME SICK
Tonight I'm feeling kind of bad,
Thinking 'bout my kids and it makes me sad.
Hardest kids to hear from, I ever had.
Wish they'd write.
It ain't because they can't write
They are tolerably healthy and fairly bright.
And I sure feel sorrowful tonight.
Just thinking about my kids.
But there's an old saying that someone said,
Keeps buzzing around in my poor old head.
"They'd let you know if they were dead."
That's some comfort.
Harry Altenburg Hanes
My heart is light, likewise my brain,
And my soul breaks forth in glad refrain.
Though I am old, I'm quite alive,
Soon reach the tale of sixty-five.
My beard once red, now grizzly grey,
My hair is almost gone away
'Till my shiny pate, when I lift lid
Like a "Town on a hill" cannot be hid.
My knees interfere when I stand to walk,
Mouth runs off when I start to talk,
Back humps like a cat's and it's plain to see
I ain't the man that I used to be.
When my head starts to roar and my ears to buzz,
I know that's me telling what usta' was.
A gay old bird with a sagging chin,
But a pretty good man for the shape he's in.
Harry Altenburg Hanes
A smile a day, a song, a laugh
Drives away sorrow
As the wind drives the chaff.
A dollar a day and six or eight more
Will just about keept the wolf from the door.
And here is one that's hard to believe
An onion a day and your best friends will leave.
Harry Altenburg Hanes
THE STORY OF DAVID THE SHEPHERD
David, the shepherd boy, had a day's vacation,
So he ambled down to the army station.
He greeted his friends and they news he told
But the boys were so scared that their feet were cold.
For a great big Philistine of enormous height
Stood on a hill and dared someone to fight.
He would stomp and curse and snarl and bawl,
Defying the armies of God and Saul.
David saw him, then I looked all around,
"Why don't one of you fellows go cut him down?"
Now that question made quite a cry.
They said, "Perhaps you would like to try."
But his older brothers began to laugh and scorn
Saying, "Little Boy Blue come blow your horn."
Another one chided, "Why Little Bo-Peep
What have you done with your pappa's sheep?"
Said David, "Now that's just the thing."
"But first, let's get consent of the king."
Quickly they brought him to Saul, the king,
Says he, "And who is this you bring?"
'Tis sure he must be awfully dumb
To think he can fight this two-story bum."
David answered, "I don't want to blow,
But there are some things the king should know."
"A lion came down the mountain steep
And took one of my father's sheep
In the keeping of God I placed my life
And I finished that lion with a pocket knife.
One day a bear came snooping about,
With a left hand swing, I knocked him out.
Now I know this guy is ten foot tall
But that just makes it farther to fall."
Says Saul to David, "Here's my fighting clothes."
But David said, "Oh, I can't wear those."
"But with your permisiion and consent, oh king
I'll run upon him with my trusted old sling."
"You just stand here and watch the fun."
:All right" said Saul to David, "Run."
David took a smooth stone in his fist
Four more in his pocket, if the first one missed.
The old giant roared, "Why you little Jew
Tomorrow the birds will be eating you."
"Not so" said David, "You'll hit the sod
For I come in the name and the strength of God."
He put a stone in the sling and whirled it round
And bang the old boy hit the ground.
Then he grabbed the sword of the old braggarier
And chopped off his head for a souvenier.
The Phillistines saw what David had done
They abandoned camp and started to run.
The king also saw and hollered, "Help
Here comes David with the old boy's scalp."
"Blow the trumpets and beat the drum
We'll chase these heathens to kingdom come."
Now the Phillistines were afraid to fight
And the Israelites chased them to the dark of Night.
Well I guess that is all that I will tell
Only Saul made David a coporal.
(Dedicated to my great-grandson, David Crouch)
Harry Altenburg Hanes
Note: Sadly David died when he was just a child.