"Seems Like Only Yesterday"

Seems Like Only Yesterday

**It seems like only yesterday
When I was just a girl,
Living at my granddad’s house
With him and Grandma Pearl.

We had a little three room house,
I guess more like a shack.
We lived on top of Rooster Ridge,
‘Way off the beaten track.

My granddad worked a piece of ground.
And grandma had a cow;
Some hens and chicks and lots of eggs,
Four piglets and a sow.

The times were hard, but life was good,
No bonds to tie me down.
The mountain breeze, the tall oak trees,
The best life all around.

**It seems like only yesterday,
A bright September morn,
My granddad walked me to the school
And left me there forlorn.

But there I stayed, and learned and played
Down in that valley school.
I learned to count and read and write
And knew the Golden Rule.

I loved to learn. I went to school
Through sleet and snow and rain.
I ate my lunches at my desk.
With books to feed my brain.

The times were hard, but life was good,
No bonds to tie me down.
The mountain breeze, the tall oak trees,
The best life all around.

**It seems like only yesterday
I graduated school.
No college for this country girl.
The real world can be cruel.

One teacher knew I had no funds
For a tuition fee.
“Just let the Army pay your way.
They’ll help, I guarantee.”

So I joined up, and here I am
On my way to Iraq.
I think about Granddad and Gram
Up in our mountain shack.

The times were hard, but life was good,
No bonds to tie me down.
The mountain breeze, the tall oak trees,
The best life all around.

**It seems like only yesterday
When everything was still.
No falling bombs, no shooting guns,
How many did I kill?

The sand, the dust, the noise, the blood,
I think this is the end.
And now my life is given for
This country I defend.

My clothes are drenched with blood and sweat.
My vision’s fading fast.
With my last thought, I think about
My life and how it’s passed.

The times were hard, but life was good,
No bonds to tie me down.
The mountain breeze, the tall oak trees,
The best life all around.


meter: 8-6-8-6
rhyme pattern: a-b-a-b