Will There Be A Risin’

2.

Leaving Sunshine

That old rattlesnake curled
Itself up into a right old puddle
Restin’ in the kicked up place
Under the seat of my swing.
Ma said it was the last straw.

The last straw must mean moving
Down off Sunshine Mountain.
We’s scrounged down between
A river and a gaggle of houses.
Sun comes up late and leaves early.

But not a hide nor hair of Pat.
With him gone bet the Germans
Can grab you quicker. Heard tell
About Pearl Harbor, wonder if he lives
In one of these houses nearby?

From what them men whispered
He’s a mighty fierce fighting man.
Strange he’d let himself be pulled
Off’n the mountains and the sunshine.
Wonder if rattlesnakes come to town?

K. Bruce Florence
June 2, 2017