Schoolhouse Memories

rural school, Nebraska country school, country school, poem

Memories haunt me today
of children at work and play
Books and papers all astrew
reminiscent of days I knew
Little desks in a row
eager faces all aglow
Pushing, prodding, and loving, too
I proudly remember you.

It's all gone now
the hallways we knew
The children and books
have disappeared, too
It's progress they say
was bound to be this way...
Rural schools, things of the past
We knew they couldn't last.

But in my musings I remember
those wonderful days in September
the excitement and the flurry
while children rush and scurry
of watermelon parties
reading all those stories
Learning together
enjoying each other.

Our own little family
is what we had
Remembering sometimes
makes me sad
It's gone... gone for good
a pasture where the old building once stood

But if you listen really close
you just might hear the ghosts
of a hundred years of recitations...
picnics, programs, and felicitations
Listen now...
Here the bell?
for a time
my memories dwell.