Childhood in the Wildwood
(Barker)

I was born in East Kentucky

In Appalachia I did roam

Sometimes my memory will take me

Back to those rolling hills of home

The path along the crest would lead me

To Camel's Rock back on the ridge

Where I could see the highway stretching

From the grade school to the Frogtown bridge

I was cradled in the bosom

Of Mother Earth and Father Time

Troublesome Creek cut through the county

From little mountain streams it fed

I'd stand and gaze down on the valley

From high atop the camel's head

That old creek was long and winding

Like a copperhead across the land

My childhood eyes beheld the splendor

Back when my dreaming first began

I was the prince of imagination

Living in the land of dreams

There was the flood of '57

And another one in '63

The rain came pouring down from Heaven

Floodwater far as the eye could see

The little town was torn asunder

When Reggie Ritchie drowned that day

The muddy water pulled him under

He never had a chance to pray

Some times I long for old Kentucky

And for the way things used to be

But now my childhood in the wildwood

Is but a fading memory

©2004, Mark Barker - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED