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THE BECKY COLLECTION





Mischief ©By Becky
So many brothers and sisters had I Only a few left, so I sit here and sigh Just remembering those long ago things Times that passed on swift beating wings The trouble and mischief we were always in Seems all the time we committed some sin With our great number it was not so bad The whippings doled out to us all, had Mama's arm so tired from whacks in the end She sent us out where we would then tend To find ourselves in trouble once more. By the end of the day our hinnys were sore. One day a big storm passed over the place Took off the tin roof, threw it out into space We saw it sailing over the top of the trees Huddled in fear that trembled our knees With our eyes cast up and hands clasp tight We cried and prayed with all of our might He must have heard us, cause all we heard Was quiet as we crept out, we spoke no word Out the door we shot and looked all around There was a big mess all over the ground We saw piles of stuff all over the place And ran for the woods, we could not face The cleaning up that would soon have to start Making our move first, we should not be part Of the work crew, cause we wanted to play Find where the roof went that blew off that day We looked in the woods, no roof did we see Finally we spotted a glitter behind an old tree That was gnarled, twisted and bent down so low We knew beyond there we did not dare go For there was a pond of old tales we had heard 'Twas deep, dark and best fishing was the word We had been told by Mama again and again To set foot near it, we would suffer great pain Sisters and brothers we debated that day Of whether to go or to be on our way The boys won cause their number was greater Oh boy! would we pay for that decision later Creeping and shushing each other we went To the edge of the pond where we saw a tent Of roofing that had blown out over the trees We ran to that thing and fell to our knees Then took that old roof and built us a boat Bending the sides up, it looked like it'd float Man we had an ark that would rival old Noah We even had a hole that served as a door We found some planking to make us a floor To stand up and have room for a few more It was a great beauty if I have to say So proud we felt of ourselves on that day No bottle could we find to Christen our ship So we took an old limb and gave her a clip We christened her Wings cause she did fly Out over the trees oh! way up so high We then looked around we needed some oars And just by chance found a few one by fours That had blown in with the great wind today We all climbed inside to start on our way For great adventures so often we'd dreamed The moment was exciting, or so it seemed Pushing from the shore was a great thrill But sailing a ship we knew not the drill Up and down we jumped with such glee Out of the woods, though we did not see Eyes spitting fire and smoke from her ears Glimpsing around soon put stop to our cheers Hands on her hips and the cock of her head All knew at once we would rather be dead For there staring at us back on the shore Was Mama and we knew what was in store Our butts would be blistered no way around It would be hard just to try to and sit down Before that could happen the water crept in Holes in the tin where the nails had once been We started screaming we knew we would drown Soon it was over the ship had gone down The water all around us we saw with relief Came just to our armpits that feeling was brief Mama spoke softly but so deadly clear Get out of that contraption and get over here She went on to tell us what wrongs we had done Tin that could have been reused was now gone It would take money saved for Christmas with care To buy more tin and to get some help to repair The roof that had blown off the house on that day Our eyes all downward we had nothing to say She took us back home no whacks did she give I'll remember the look just as long as I live The pain and despair I saw on her face that day Was worse than any beating is all I can say We did not become angels almost overnight Though we tried to be good with all of our might But just being kids the temptations were great Trouble seemed to find us, that was our fate We got into more mischief, 'twas just our way Oh well, that's another story I’ll tell you some day

Belljoye February, 18, 1999



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