The Ballad of John ... and Bailey

 My father's death and my grandson Bailey's birth were so close together, they must have passed each other at the door to heaven...one coming back home, one departing on his journey of life".

The Ballad of John … and Bailey

John was born a farmer's son

and learned to work the lands

in rural Oklahoma where

they made life with their hands.

He learned to tell a story well

and those who listened know

of model T's, depression days

and silent picture shows ...

of wagon trips and cotton crops

and playing country ball ...

of thunderstorms and blackjack trees

and harvests in the fall ...

of one room schools and butter churns

and following a plow

behind a team of stubborn mules,

he still remembered how.

The oldest of eleven then

what could the schoolboy do

but read his books behind a plow

and trust the rows were true.

John married young, as some men do,

and raised a family

of seven children, seven strong,

with quiet dignity.

They moved to Colorado for,

he hoped, a better day,

to make a life without a crop,

to live another way..

then out to California,

a blue Pacific dawn,

the war was recent history,

the grapes of wrath were gone.

They picked some grapes and pulled a mile

of cotton down a row,

they chased some water, pulled a plow

and danced with mister hoe.

They moved a thousand sprinkler lines then moved them all again, they moved the mighty cotton plant from row, to sack, to gin. John lost his love one dreary day but kept his stubborn pride and lived another forty years though half his heart had died. And other loves and other crops and other rows to sow, and other losses other moves and other pain to know. Alone at last, yet not alone, Louisiana bound. In southern hospitality a final home he found. A restful town, a peaceful life, a garden there to tend, with books to read and tales to tell, a better way to end. With honor and integrity, with unrelenting pride, with dignity John lived his life... with dignity he died. ... and Bailey Two Neighbors boys at Heaven's door paused there to share a grin ... then one stepped out to start a life and one came home again. ~ Dean Neighbors ~-+