Thinkin' Back

I've ben thinkin' back, of late, S'prisin'!--And I'm here to state I'm suspicious it's a sign Of _age_, maybe, or decline Of my faculties,--and yit I'm not _feelin'_ old a bit-- Any more than sixty-four Ain't no _young_ man any more! Thinkin' back's a thing 'at grows On a feller, I suppose-- Older 'at he gits, i jack, More he keeps a-thinkin' back! Old as old men git to be, Er as middle-aged as me, Folks'll find us, eye and mind Fixed on what we've left behind-- Rehabilitatin'-like Them old times we used to hike Out barefooted fer the crick, 'Long 'bout _Aprile first_--to pick Out some 'warmest' place to go In a-swimmin'--_Ooh! my-oh!_ Wonder now we hadn't died! Grate horseradish on my hide Jes' _a-thinkin'_ how cold then That-'ere worter must 'a' ben! Thinkin' back--W'y, goodness me! I kin call their names and see Every little tad I played With, er fought, er was afraid Of, and so made _him_ the best Friend I had of all the rest! Thinkin' back, I even hear Them a-callin', high and clear, Up the crick-banks, where they seem Still hid in there--like a dream-- And me still a-pantin' on The green pathway they have gone! Still they hide, by bend er ford-- Still they hide--but, thank the Lord, (Thinkin' back, as I have said), I hear laughin' on ahead!