This is an excerpt from
Bilingual Poetry of Goldie Ardelle Morgan Haynsworth.
A Boy and his Toad by Ed Haynsworth, Jr.
A Boy and His Toad
Our little boy
Came in today,
Flushed with excitement
From his morning play.
His deep blue eyes
Filled with serious thought,
As he said, “See Mama,
What I have brought!”
There he stood so little and proud
I hastened to accept
Then exclaimed aloud,
“Why this is a horrid, ugly old toad,
You take him right back
And put him in the road!”
But he cried and said,
He would keep him in his pocket
And wouldn’t even sing
When he sat down to rock it.”
That he would wash him clean
In the tub at night,
And let him sleep in his shoes
Laced up tight.
Promised he would never
Put any warts on me:
If I wouldn’t make him
Set the little frog free!
Our little boy is just three years old
So we are going to keep
His ugly old toad!
Un Niño Y Su Sapo
Nuestro pequeño niño
Vino hoy,
Sonrió con emoción
De su juego matutino.
Sus profundos ojos azules
Llenó de pensamiento serio,
Mientras decía, “Mira mamá,
Lo que he traído!”
Allí estaba tan pequeño y orgulloso
Que me apresuré a aceptar
Y luego exclamé en voz alta,
“Por qué este es un horrible, feo sapo viejo
Lo llevas de vuelta a
Y lo pones en el camino!”
Pero lloró y dijo,
Lo mantendría en su bolsillo
Y ni siquiera cantaría
Cuando se sentara a mecerlo.”
Que él lo mantendrá limpio
En la bañera por la noche,
Y lo dejaría dormir en sus zapatos
Atado apretado.
Prometió que nunca
Me pondría verrugas:
¡Si yo no lo hiciera
Liberó a la rana!
Nuestro pequeño niño tiene solo tres años,
Así que vamos a mantener a
¡Su viejo sapo feo!
1947
This is an excerpt from I Remember One Time.
Daddy’s New Buick by Ed Haynsworth, Jr.
Daddy’s New Buick. About that same time, Dad bought a new Buick with a straight-eight engine. It was a horse.
Some Sunday nights, Mom and Daddy would drive out in the country to the Black Creek Church of God with me and Annette in the back seat. Brother Butler liked to preach out there sometimes. Well, after services one Sunday night, we were headed home from Black Creek when Brother Butler pulled in behind us with his brand-new Ford.
He blinked his headlights to let us know he was coming around. Annette and I stood on the back seat and told Daddy not to let Brother Butler pass. So there we are, a six- and a four-year-old standing on the back seat and Daddy driving damn fast.
The night was dark, the road was tar black, and no street lights anywhere. Mama’s in the front saying, take it easy now. Then Brother Butler pulled up alongside our car, neck and neck, trying to pass us on that two-lane Georgia highway of the 1940s.
By that time, we were hauling ass. Annette and I were still jumping on the back seat while holding on to the back of the front seats and watching the race. Well, let me tell you, Brother Butler never came around our new Buick.
ntact M 