~ Janna Dea Harris ~

“Ben”

A Tribute to Ben Humphries

He grew up in Cliffside
As most of us did.
And he lived in a mill house
When he was a kid.

He knew every street in town
Played ball in every yard
But he was a child of the thirties
Times were tough. Life was hard.

He had his first job
Before he could walk and
Was probably selling something
By the time he could talk

He had a hundred jobs as a boy
Usually several at a time
I know he swept out the post office
And for that, earned a dime.

He shined shoes at the barbershop
And he claims, as a rule,
Learned more on that job
Than he ever learned in school

And I’ve heard it said
Again and again
If you want to know about Cliffside
Just go and ask Ben

He likes bluegrass music
The old Snuffy Jenkins way
And he owns a banjo and a guitar
That he swears he can’t play

He likes to wear blue jeans
You rarely see him in a suit
But come on ladies let’s admit
We all think he’s cute.

Life has thrown him some curves
But he’s the strongest man I know
And he’s weathered every storm
And absorbed every blow

And one of the reasons
He can handle the strife
Is because his love for his family
Has been the key to his life.

And upon his wisdom and humor
We can always depend
And we are so, so honored
To call him our friend.

—October 7, 2011

“Remember Cliffside”

Remember Cliffside?
Oh, I think that I will
And not as a spot on a map
Or an old cotton mill.

I’m talking the 50s and 60s
Cliffside’s heyday.
So gather round young’uns
To hear what I say.

We had a principal, Mr. Beatty
Who was at least eight feet tall
And he set traps to catch children
Roaming the hall.

Mrs. Beatty, his wife
Well, she loved kids very much.
We know that she did
Cause she ate them for lunch.

Miss Christy, Mrs. Tinkler
Miss Packard, Miss Wells
If you’re as old as I am
Those names ring some bells.

We had this movie theater
In the middle of town
And a roller skating rink
A couple floors down.

I saw a million movies
For a handful of dimes
And I went around that rink
At least one billion times.

To stay cool in church
We used little cardboard fans
And for cell phones we used
A string and two cans.

Fast food was eating snow cones
While they still contained ice
And raiding watermelon patches
Was our most serious vice.

Since we had no video games
We played a game called Red Rover
And we could make Halloween last
The entire month of October

Back then, winters were colder
And summers really hot
And we said prayers in school
Whether we needed to or not.

Growing up in Cliffside
Was one heck of a ride
And I could never forget it
Even if I tried.