The Green Pajamas

Winter Of '23

Winter of 23 it snowed like a bastard
Doom rolled in stiff from the north
Mama started praying early
For God to keep her family warm

Daylight of the second morning
Daddy died of a heart attack
Quarter mile up the road
Seth and I drug him back

Seth was big just like daddy
He dug a hole six foot down
We stood for a while in the swirling snow
Then covered him up with the frozen ground

Late that night our [servant] girl named Sally
Said she pittied Seth and I so badly
That she wanted to give us all the love she could
Just like she used to do with daddy

Oh Sally Sally please
Won't you stop haunting me
I sit sometimes in the old oak tree
Just wondering what you're doing

By the fifth day there was no more color
nothing out there but blinding white
Mamma was talking of the days of judgement
Said, The Lord was coming down tonight

That night we sat by the fire in silence
Except for Seth's mournful violin
He was older and he seemed less bothered
By mamma's apocoliptic visions

By the seventh day the sun was shining
Melting the snow away
Sarah from the next farm over
Came to see if I could play

Sarah was pretty and blonde and freckled
Always wore a checkered shirt
Sometimes in the heat of summer
She'd let me peek under her skirt

Oh mamma mamma tell me please
Why won't she marry me
I sat all day in the old oak tree
Praying for forgiveness

Oh Sarah Sarah please
Why won't you marry me
I sit sometimes in the old oak tree
Just wondering what your doing

_____________________
by Jeff Kelly
(c) 1985 Half The World Publishing BMI