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Elizabeth

Scott Whitby, 2020


Back from the war

Brought our mom home

Torn from the West

To raise three sons


Elizabeth community

Not even nowhere

Smaller than Caspar

He thought she wouldn't care


Burnt his old house

The one he grew up in

Burnt an old wagon

May have been the last one


Needed a home for a family

Bought a farm for four grand

You'll never pay it off

It's what his dad said


Eight acres of strawberries

Killed twelve hogs

Another twelve rows of peas

But the rows were a mile long


Horse ran through the garden

John Cobb got so mad

Never had good horses

Just lucky they weren't more bad


Too little to carry the weights

Hunted ducks before it was cool

Followed him to the bottom

Fished instead of school


We talked about our mama

Macaroni and cheese

Biscuits and gravy

Beans flavored with chicken feet


And grew gardens too big

Only way to get by

Cleaned it with a hoe

God forgive if you didn't try


Never had money

Big deal for the phone to ring

Never went somewhere, ever

But to church to sing


Sometimes the crops were ok

And Mom learned to fix hair

They suffered for money

It got better, but not fair


But if they didn't spend it

And still lived off the land

It gave their boys a chance

To have a life more grand


Sent us to school

Wanted more for us boys

Farming was ok for them but

They wanted us to have a choice


Soon we found the best women

Pat, Debra, and Kay

And we'd raise our own

And teach them to pray


Two generations later

Children grand and great

Begin their own story

Destiny of their own to make


Progeny of war and Wyoming

Southern man, a girl of the West

Wish they could see us now

Neither could have guessed


Nobody understands it

But my 2 brothers and me

Good stories for the kids

But we were there, brothers to see


We raised you like us

Best that we could

Made our mistakes

But you learned what you should


You've heard all the stories

Like seeds you can sow

You've listened so close

Now your kids need to know


How a man from the war

And a girl from the West

Could move to Elizabeth

And give you the best

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