These I've Loved

These I’ve Loved

Elizabeth-Ellen Long

These I’ve loved since I was little;

Wood to build with or to whittle,

Wind in the grass and falling rain,

First leaves along an April lane,

Yellow flowers, cloudy weather,

River-bottom smell, old leather,

Fields newly plowed, young corn in rows,

Back-county roads and cawing crows,

Stone walls with stiles going over,

Daisies, Queen Anne’s lace and clover,

Night tunes of crickets, frog songs too,

Starched cotton cloth, the color blue,

Bells that ring from white church steeple,

Friendly dogs and friendly people