The legs of Maddox kitchen tables   My whole life twisted on a lathe   In a foreman's torrent   My first English was   "Faster boy if you want your pay"   Barking commands   Loud and simple   We could all obey      Then I was forever pulling silvers   Rubbed the sawdust always   Deeper in my eye   Varnish vapor that could linger   On my skin   It held tight   The whine of spinning blades   Still echoes to bother my sleep at night      See that ox   Stamped dead center   On the letter head of the company mail   Four decades a spitting image   Of the animal I portrayed   At Maddox Table a yoke was carved   For my neck      Sun through the window oil spattered   And in mason jars   Tricked plenty seeds thrive   The standing joke   Around the shop was   With my green thumb   Anything'd grow   My part was to laugh   Show and ornery jig had   Cut it at the knuckle bone      See that ox   Trade mark burned   Into every stick of furniture   From horn to tail   Four decades a spitting image   Of the animal I portrayed   At Maddox Table a yoke was carved   For my neck      Was tailor made      O my Dolly was a weak   Not a burdened girl   Treat her to a piece of vaudville   A Wintergarden moving picture show   Bemus Point on July Sundays   By trolley we'd go      To your benefit we's strike or bargain   With the waving fist a union man   Not just for   Smokes spirits candy and cologne   But for   Automobile keys   Cash in the bank   And the deed   On a place called home