If Boys Had Hearts

If boys had hearts they would cry

So my mother said to me

Bent me over and took the switch

Hard to the back of my knees

Never mind what I did

Ask a bird how it flies

From a nest made of sticks

Into heavens made of light

Mind your manners, knife and fork

Pass the butter if you please

What we know we have learned

What we learn we shall teach

If boys had hearts they would cry

So my mother said to me

Bent me over and took the switch

Hard to the back of my knees

Rode away on a mule

Behind an engine full of steam

With fiery stack on iron rails

I returned for all to see

My bowing head and folded hands

Tall against a cloudless sky

Reverent words bound in black

In a voice cold and dry

If boys had hearts they would cry

So my mother said to me

Bent me over and took the switch

Hard to the back of my knees