*T’was the eve b’for Christmas in Ozark hill country
When Bervis came out with the box not so empty.
Opal was grinnin’ she knew it was time
To burn the debt history, in her hand, the boxed wine.
*The night was upon them, the neighborhood still
Bervis opened his moonshine and gulped a big swill.
The good and the bad, the ugly there too
had all been recorded, and now become due.
*The decade was over, the new in their sights
No obnoxious phone calls disturbing their nights.
The thoughts were all kept in their hillbilly heads,
of the children, the grandkids, and crowded bunkbeds.
*The only thing left now, the home that they live in
The furniture, groceries, and clothes they been given.
But this mattered not, on this evenin so cold
When Bervis and Opal declared themselves bold.
*They fear not collectors, old age or poverty
Or the junkyard which soon would surround their small property.
The two are together, no matter the weight
Of the financial future, or lack of, (their state.)
*You can’t take from nothing, that which aint there
And they grinned as their history rose in the night air.
*Bervis and Opal know the secret of life
This tired hillbilly and his darling sweet wife.
If yer breathin God’s air, and see the sunrise
There’s a good chance in heaven, you’ll meet with the wise.
*So don’t let this news they say of recession
Throw dark clouds across this here Christmas lesson.
If a babe in a manger can grow to be King
His great Father’s Love gives you near the same thing.
*A mansion or shanty, dirt streets or of gold
When you git to heaven, the young and the old
Will be there to greet you, like Opal and Bervis
And shout Hallelujiah!, in that heavenly service!
