Memories And A Farm Poem by Jan Oskar Hansen

Memories and a farm

My mother had tuberculosis and sent to a sanatorium
I ended up in a home run by the local town and financed
by people who meant well
I made life difficult for the staff, and a tiny boy went on strike
they sent me to a farm, back then farmers were paid
by the community taking children from poor homes.
For me it was a beautiful place, the farmer and his wife were
a middle-aged couple and the demanded little of me except
getting up early milking the cows, they had five.
I have always liked animals and domestic animals
they had no reason to fear me.
The school was an hour walk away if I crossed the fields
it got shorter when I got a bike.
Years went by. My mother was coming back, although
she had only a small flat, and I had to sleep on the floor
I loved her and left the idyllic farm to memories.