Country Kitchen Morning

In mem'ry, I can smell the hotcakes my Mom used to bake
when I was young and there was nothing like a griddle cake.
When outside it was so cold you could touch your frozen breath,
and if you didn't move briskly it would freeze you half to death.

The wood fire crackled merrily in her old cooking range.
She'd fry pork, and if the hens were layin', eggs too, for a change.
She mostly served the cakes with jelly; canned when days were hot.
Tho, sometimes she made sugar water syrup on the spot.

But whichever way we had them, it was the best of all.
They never had to coax us kids to eat, as I recall.
Some mornings, if she had time, when the rest of us were done,
she would bake some fancy shaped cakes to amuse the little ones.

I loved to watch her flip them, turning over in the air.
I remember when she let me try; I really met despair.
We'd fill our stomachs greedily, and then to school we'd hike,
and to this day I've never seen a hotcake I didn't like!

- Lillian Arnold Lopez "Pineylore"

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