Hoosier Barn

I returned to the place of my birth a few months ago. Visiting there always gives my languid soul a glow. The house still looks good but the old barn is showing its age. How long it will weather the storms is difficult to gauge! Sad to say, its once sturdy beams and doors are sagging. Its former brilliant red paint and white trim are also lagging. Decades of tempests and searing sun have exacted their toll. I recall so many fond memories as about the old barn I stroll! The old barn was our playground on snowy and rainy days. Dad placed a hoop on a beam for our rowdy basketball plays. Scuffling in the mow, burying ourselves in sweet-smelling hay, We kids spent many happy hours there, whiling the time away! All was not play for this feckless Hoosier lad. Honest toil was proffered and expected by my Dad. At the tender age of ten I was milking Jersey cows; At hay-making time I was the kid sweating in the mows! Even though the old barn is aging its hand-hewn oaken beams, Will bind it together a few more years weathering all extremes. 'Twould be admirable if some good soul would provide the pelf, To paint and prop it up and restore it to its former self! Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired © All Rights Reserved