Monday, December 11, 2006

Mildred Madalyn Johnson by Fernando Ortega

Mildred Madalyn Johnson
Born in the autumn of nineteen hundred sixteen

A shy, pretty girl from East Texas
Religious and restless
Humble and kind as a person could be

She loved to sing in the choir
Loud and inspired
Her head tilted down, keeping time.

And tell stories with friends after supper
ignoring the hour
a calico cat fast asleep at her side.

And she loved to drive
her big red car
though she couldn't see over
the hood very far
She'd back out the driveway
And point that thing down the road.
We'd say, Oh there she goes.

Her hair was silver and messy
She walked in a hurry
Worried about wasting the day.

Some nights she sat at her dresser
composing long letters
Falling asleep with a pen in her hand.

And she loved to drive
her big red car
A scarf round her shoulders
Her foot to the floor
Down to the grocery
She'd wave good-bye
And we'd pray
Lord, bring her back safe.

Mildred Madalyn Johnson
Marvelous woman
I was so lucky
To call her my friend.

2004 Cerdo Verde Music

2 comments:

John said...

I love this song! My 13 year-old and I always laugh at the part where 'she points that thing down the road'...great word pictures.

I just happened upon you via comments on Meg Fowler's blog.

The confused foreigner. said...

Cool, thanks for coming by! I know, I love this song too. I find a lot of Fernando's songs to be pretty interesting.