Mess of Fish

Two young boys and an old man in a metal fishing boat Got a mess of crappie poles and strings Headed for the camp house gonna’ fry up a mess of fish Roll them in flour and cornbread and hit the pan a sizzling. Momma going to holler to clean up that mess Grease is a popping and the old man is drinking beer Once they get them fish nice an hot they lay them out on newspaper And let it soak up the grease while they wait for them to cool down Buddy likes to eat the fins first they are nice and crispy but Beaux goes for the meat And don’t care nothing about the bones The old man keeps drinking beer and laughing at the boys Remembering when he was a kid and fish was all they had to eat But nothing feels better than blood on blood and they drift away into the night For morning will come and the day will dawn and if God is willing they will still have each other. And that is as good as it gets.