I can hear my Mother calling in my mind across the years, 
And my heart is filled with sadness as my eyes fill up with tears.
I can hear her laughing gaily at some prank that I would play, 
And I wish I'd made her laugh more often ere she had to go away. 

I can hear her calling loudly for us boys to come and eat, 
And we'd reply "We're comin', Mom", from two blocks down the street. 
Then we'd take another time at bat and forget her supper call 
Til Dad would yell "You boys come home or there'll be no food at all!"

We had an old piano that Mom would play on Saturday nights. 
We'd gather 'round and sing with her 'til Dad turned out the lights. 
We'd sing the hymns and ballads that all the family knew, 
Those times were great but now I think that they were all too few!

And sometimes Dad would sing a song, the ones he loved the best, 
"In the Evening, By the Moonlight", "Old Rugged Cross" and all the rest 
Of the old-time songs and ballads that he sang as a boy,
"Carry Me Back to Old Virginny", "Clementine", and "Soldier's Joy".

Dad's been gone now, thirty years, and Mom's been gone for seven, 
They're together now, God rest their souls, in His mansion up in Heaven,
And I hope they know we miss them so, and our hearts still ache with pain,
But our love is strong and will carry us on 'til we're with them once again.

Bob Harrison
Greenfield, Indiana
May 25, 1987