Old Dogs and Children and Watermelon Wine

For Pauline.

You played me your favourite song,

You said it spoke what's in your heart.

You held my hand and sang along,

And bade me listen to the part

About the simple things you loved

The only things worth your time

Old dogs, and children

And watermelon wine.

I remembered how you'd loved me

Ever since I was a child

How our games were ever carefree

And your temper ever mild. 

And the simple things you loved

The only things worth our time.

Old dogs, and children,

And watermelon wine.

As we sang I saw your tears,

And the grieving in your heart

As we spoke of loss and fears

You bade me listen to the part

About the simple things you loved

The only things worth your time

Old dogs, and children

And watermelon wine.

I have loved you all my life,

But I never really knew you

I had no idea of all the strife,

That you have lived through.

The simple things kept in your heart,

Now they'll always be in mine.

Old dogs, and children,

And watermelon wine.

Reviews

[Beccy]

One of your reviewers mentioned this seemed to falter a little in musicality.

I disagree, it has a flow and rhythm that I think makes these lines as much song lyrics as a poem.

The repetition at the end of each verse works perfectly and 'old dogs, and children and watermelon wine,' go quite beautifully together.

Much enjoyed this.

Beccy.

[KAREN]

I think this poem is beautiful and perfect the way it is! I enjoyed reading it!

[KCthelastboyscout]

Great title!! great story. Somewhat sad but I enjoyed reading this very much

[emipoemi]

Wow......this is wonderful. I love the narrative and the refrain is killer! If I may be so bold as to give you a small critique, the only place where this falls flat is in musicality. Certain lines don't quite dance to the music of your song, and that undermines the refrain a bit. It simply needs some tweaking in musicality and it would be tuned to perfection!! Well done!!

[Ethan]

Haha I love long titles, and this one is exceptional. Every line leads to the next, so nicely done :)

[Cyprian Van Dyke]

Beautiful, you write with so much feeling, and you pace yourself very well. I never heard of watermelon wine, thank you for that. :)

[PoeticSorcery]

good job on making the rhymes flow well, it's annoying when people rhyme just cause they can, without taking the time to make sure it makes sense.

[forgotten_ghosts]

This is one of the best and touching poems I ever read. Thank you for sharing this!

[Woody]

my oh my! those repetitive two lines are sumptuous. the whole poem is beautiful. and touching.
just lovely.

[Terry O'Leary]

A very touching poem... Bravo!!!