Lillie
Samuel and I taught our children Strength
and it stood them all good stead in the trials of life.
When the stock market crashed and other men lost work,
my husband and sons worked on at a steady pace.
We gave each child his or her own home
but they earned the rest by working hard, or smart.
Irene was a active horsewoman, a teacher,
and a good wife, she who married at thirty-six,
to the Reverend with all of those children.
I myself have been gone less than a century
and wonder who back there still knows enough.
from Oak and Mimosa by Alan Reynolds