It's Got To Be

"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'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!"