Umpteen Times

                      Umpteen Times

My Ma used to say to me,
"Now, Billy. I've told you 
A hundred, no, umpteen times,
These trees aren't here to climb."

"But, Ma, why ever would God
Put them here, to grow so tall,
If we boys were not 
Meant to shinny up them all?"

"Now, son, just look at the bark,
You've skint on them with the climbing,
That perhaps may never grow back
From your climbing them as a lark?"

"But, Ma we learnt in Science,
It'll grow back someday.
So why can't we just play
And finish climbing them once?

You never let us get all
The way to the top,
I promise you we'll not fall,
Just won't you please trust us 

When we tell you that we're safe
While scaling them, at least today.
This once, and then we'll shout,
'Ma, look at us, we can see all the way

To town and back!'
 We never got to finish our climb,
Cause Ma would shake her head
And say:

"Billy, I've told you for the umpteenth
Time, get down from there before
You fall! And so, defeated we would
Climb back down to the ground 

Defeated once again by our Ma's fears
Listening to her with hearts so sad,
Cause we knew those trees God placed
Were meant to be climbed by these lads.

Now, as we reflect, on the day of her passing,
We look out with grins on our faces,
And say, "Do you remember the times,
Ma told us, I've told you for the umpteeth time,

Those trees aren't there for you to climb."
 So in memory of her we decided to 
Try just one more time,
Scale up as far as we could go."

Needless as it was, age had crept
Up on us. Anyway, we still could laugh
And sit beneath those trees, but then
Instead we wept.