“When it's got to be,” — like! always say, As I notice the years whiz past, And know each day is a yesterday, When we size it up, at last,—
Same as I said when my boyhood went And I knowed we had to quit,— “It's got to be, and it's goin’ to be!” — So I said “Good-by” to it.
It's got to be, and it's goin’ to be! So at least I always try To kind o’ say in a hearty way,— “Well, it's got to be. Good-by!”
The time jes melts like a late, last snow,— When it's got to be, it melts! But I aim to keep a cheerful mind, Ef I can n't keep nothin’ else!
I knowed, when I come to twenty-one, That I'd soon be twenty-two,— So I waved one hand at the soft young man, And I said, “Good-by to you!”
It's got to be, and it's goin’ to be! So at least I always try To kind o’ say, in a cheerful way,— “Well, it's got to be.— Good-by!”
They kep’ a-goin’, the years and years, Yet still I smiled and smiled,— For I'd said “Good-by” to my single life, And I now had a wife and child:
Mother and son and the father — one,— Till, last, on her bed of pain, She jes’ smiled up, like she always done,— And I said “Good-by” again.
It's got to be, and it's goin’ to be! So at least I always try To kind o’ say, in a humble way,— “Well, it's got to be. Good-by!”
And then my boy — as he growed to be Almost a man in size,— Was more than a pride and joy to me, With his mother's smilin’ eyes.—
He gimme the slip, when the War broke out, And followed me. And I Never knowed till the first right's end... I found him, and then,... “Good-by.”
It's got to be, and it's goin’ to be! So at least I always try To kind o’ say, in a patient way, “Well, it's got to be. Good-by!”
I have said, “Good-by!— Good-by!— Good-by!” With my very best good will, All through life from the first,— and I Am a cheerful old man still:
But it's got to end, and it's goin’ to end! And this is the thing I'll do,— With my last breath I will laugh, O Death, And say “Good-by” to you!...
It's got to be! And again I say,— When his old scythe circles high, I'll laugh — of course, in the kindest way,— As I say “Good-by!— Good-by!”
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