Texas Hill Country Among the hills of central Texas I was raised till I filled my britches, A wildly rambunctious little laddie With a sweet Mama and stern Daddy. We where poor as a church mouse With a leaky old tent for a house. We ate brown beans and cornbread, A cornhusk mattress was my bed. I roved free over craggy hills crest And could tell a bird by their nest, I ran the river bottoms like a deer And knew critters by the sound I hear. I swam muddy rivers and waded creeks And fished for bass in bayous deep, I hunted over hills to canyons below There was no scary place I wouldn't go. I caught armadillos on a dead run Burning up in the fiery Texas sun, I chased squirrels up pecan trees Putting cuts and scratches on me. I sang at church to save my soul My first kiss was by a crawdad hole, I shined shoes on the street for pay Then spent it on the Saturday matinee. We were a ragtag family very poor Living on stubbornness and little more, But where we lived made up for it all - Hill country Texans proud and tall. ©Written By: Kenneth J. Ellison 09-16-04 Song title: "Laurel" Return   Poetry By Ken   Guestbook   Email Ken To send this page to someone