Safe in the Arms of Love




In the nineteen fifties, I was a child, when all across this land,
Women were taught to stay at home and make their husbands grand.
Wash and mend his clothes and cook the food he likes to eat.
Wait on him hand and foot and keep the house real neat.

Take his word for everything and wear the clothes he likes.
Let him choose the TV shows, while you tend to the tykes.
Make sure they're safe and happy. Keep them clean and fed.
Be certain that they're quiet when it's time to go to bed.

If Daddy had been a tyrant, or if Mama had hated it,
It would have been to much to ask, instead it all just fit.
She took care of us, and him, and made sure things went right.
He brought home his paycheck and came home every night.

They both had things they had to do. They each did their very best.
Then there was the job they shared, to make our home a nest.
Each one gave us all the love, they had inside to give.
They made us happy and well prepared for the life that we would live.

The way they loved each other and gave of all they had,
Taught us that we could make it, even if times got bad.
Childhood wasn't all roses, or picnics in the park,
But we always felt that love, in daylight and in dark.

Daddy was a nature guy. He spent his days outside.
Whenever he was not at work, he took us for a ride.
He showed us how to look for snakes, and where other creatures stayed.
He taught us what was safe to do and when to be afraid.

My Daddy was the smartest man that there has ever been.
He also was the kindest and he was opposed to sin.
He taught the boys, no matter what, that it would never do,
To raise your hand to a woman, it didn't matter who.

To make his point quite clearly, he did as he told them to.
He never even spanked me, instead here's what he'd do:
He'd look at me, eyes filled with love, and tell me he was sad,
That a little girl, as good as me, could ever do something bad.

I'd cry and regret my error, for I'd disappointed him.
Then I'd try harder to always be good, so his eyes I'd never dim.
I'm not saying I never got spanked, Mama warmed up my backside.
But always with love and never too hard. (for leaving my shoes outside)

My mama, too, was very smart, and gifted, I must say,
Because she taught us gently, that fairness was the way,
To share, and laugh, and never judge another's words or deeds,
and not to count on others, to take care of our needs.

"Pretty is as pretty does." "Everyone has worth."
"Do your best at everything you try to do on earth."
"Respect the opinions of others and try to make them glad."
She taught us to appreciate everything we had.

That unconditional love I knew prepared me for the worst,
Because the ones who loved me best, were the ones who loved me first.
All my life I've known these things, and shared them when I could.
'Cause Mama and Daddy are happy
whenever I "be good!"

©Paula McCarty ~ June 2001