Wednesday, July 8, 2020
Billy was just a little boy when I left home for University; but my Mom told me a story about Bill and my Dad George. We could see Burns' house across the fields & Bill would come visit Dad and spend time together. He'd ask Mom if George could 'come out to play'. The story was so moving, years later, I wrote a song to my Dad and Bill and I share it with you:
Billy and George - Can George Come Out To Play?”
Their family had left home,
Some with children of their own,
And he was retired from the mine.
His days were filled with chores -
He kept busy out doors,
To occupy his time.
‘Til a boy made his way
‘Cross the back fields one day
And ended in their back yard.
They chewed on straws of hay
As they talked the morn away -
The old man and the young lad.
For months he came to visit
And while away the hours;
Working in the garden
Picking berries and wild flowers.
He’d knock on their back door
And little Bill would say:
“Hello Mrs. How you doing?
“Can George come out to play?”
His grandchildren far away
The man took to the lad;
The boy had found someone with time
To be like a granddad.
Nearly sixty years between them
Disappeared as they talked;
Two generations melded
In their friendship as they walked.
They’d walk out down the back field
Where he used to cut the hay,
Along beside the old pond
Where his kids had learned to skate.
They’d listen to the birds sing
As they walked through the wood;
They talked about near everything
And came home feeling good.
Now Bill is just as old as
George was way back then;
It’s many years since George has passed away.
But sometimes it seems I hear my Mom
Telling me again
Of young Billy who would ask her:
“Can George come out to play?”
Pearl E. Akers July 4, 2007
CREMATION~CHAPEL~RECEPTION
