EMMETT

Hey Emmett
By GC SMITH

Hey Emmett, Grandpa’s getting’ old,
seventy years are comin’ real soon;
he’s hopin’ for another thirty or so
but that’s a wish, one can never really know

I’ve been around here for a while,
it’s a long time ago I was a child;
still I remember those good days and
I surely hope yours will be the same

Yesterday, ridin’ bikes with buddies,
pedalin’ over mountain hills and valleys
destination, clear cold Pennsylvania lakes
or just explorin’ where I had never been

There were the many holidays to enjoy
July the four the best -contraband fireworks
like cherry bombs and M-80 firecrackers
somehow, I still have all ten of my fingers

Then there was the thrill of my first car
a forty Packard full of dents and dings;
gas was but a dime or so a gallon then,
that made it easy for a guy to get around

With mobility came life’s great discovery, girls,
the wonderful mysterious alluring other sex
whose pigtails I’d dipped into school inkwells
until I figured out that wasn’t what one should do

So, Emmett as you grow from child to man
enjoy each and every day, I know you can;
your days will stretch out with wonders to behold,
so grab them, embrace life’s fun, simply enjoy