How are you, Jenny Lou? 


When we were only six years old, you lived just down the street
And, though I wasn't much on girls, I thought you pretty neat.
You always had a happy smile; your hair hung down in curls.
You liked to punch and run around, not like the other girls. 

When we were nine, my dad got transferred down to Cooper's Glen.
I said goodbye, not knowing I would not see you again.
I sit here now, at fifty, and your face comes into view
I wonder how you've lived your life - How are you, Jenny Lou?

Did you do well in high school? I remember you were smart.
Did you perfect that happy smile to break a million hearts?
Or were you more the shy type, one who never spoke at all
Who buried feelings strong and deep behind a concrete wall?

How often did you fall in love? Were you married? Surely so
And, if the marriage ended, did he leave - or did you go?
Did you spend nights crying hopelessly to take the pain away
Or did you find that perfect man that you're still with today? 

Did you have any children? Was the childbirth smooth or hard?
Did you grow up religious...go to church and praise the Lord?
Do you still have that smile I loved when you were only six
Or are you scarred by broken dreams not even time can fix? 

Did you grow to be beautiful? I remember as a child
The world seemed to be nicer each and every time you smiled.
Or did things not turn out so well for that child I once knew
And so I wonder, once again, how are you, Jenny Lou? 

I know what's happened in my life - events that I've gone through,
The joys, the woes, and on it goes....the death and sickness, too.
We all have hills to conquer in our effort to survive.
Had you had strength to conquer yours? Are you even still alive? 

I can't believe that, somehow, after forty years has passed
Your smiling face and bouncing curls have come to mind at last.
I wonder if you've thought of me for some brief spell or two
Recalling happy times we had - How are you, Jenny Lou?