Old Rivers

How old was I when I first seen old Rivers? I can't remember when he weren't around Well, that old fellow did a heap of work Spent his whole life walking plowed ground He had a one-room shack not far from us And well, we was about as poor as him He had one old mule he called Midnight And I'd trailed along after them He used to plow them rows straight and deep And I'd come along near behind A-bustin' up clods with my own bare feet Old Rivers was a friend of mine That sun'd get high and that mule would work 'Til old Rivers'd finally say, "Whoa" He'd wipe his brow, and lean back on the reins And talk about a place he's gonna go He'd say, one of these days, I'm gonna climb that mountain Walk up there among them clouds Where the cotton's high and the corn's a-growin' And there ain't no fields to plow I got a letter today from the folks back home and They're all fine, crops is dry Down at the end, mom said, Son You know old Rivers died Just sittin' here now on this new-plowed earth Trying to find me a little shade With the sun beatin' down 'cross the fields I see That mule, old Rivers and me Now, one of these days, I'm gonna climb that mountain Walk up there among them clouds Where the cotton's high and the corn's a-growin' And there ain't no fields to plow With the sun beatin' down across the fields I see That mule, old Rivers and me --- Old Rivers - Walter Brennan