Working

Scott Whitby, 2023

I first remember working

When I was six years old

Sick and tired and burning sun

In more cotton than I could hoe

I knew this life was not for me

But for a man whose arms were strong

A young boy already knew

A life like this was not for long

My dad never had that chance

To see what his life was for

The only break he ever had

Was when he left for war

He worked and worried about the dirt

All he knew was to try

To know when to plant the seeds

Then quit in time to die

He knew the world was changing

There’s no future on this farm

The best that we could hope for

Was rain from a thunderstorm

He told me I could be anything

He didn’t say what that might be

It didn’t really matter

He just wanted me to see

Now I got songs and a guitar

A life ain't all that bad

Friends that let me sing along

The songs that make you sad

I think back and wonder if

I could ever have made it that way

Living and dying in a cotton field

If he hadn’t said “boy just get away”