It's_Got_To Be

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"When it's _got_ to be,"--like! always say,
  As I notice the years whiz past,
And know each day is a yesterday,
  When we size it up, at last,--
Same as I said when my _boyhood_ went
  And I knowed _we_ had to quit,--
"It's _got_ to be, and it's _goin'_ to be!"--
  So I said "Good-by" to _it_.

It's _got_ to be, and it's _goin'_ to be!
  So at least I always try
To kind o' say in a hearty way,--
  "Well, it's _got_ to be. Good-by!"

The time jes melts like a late, last snow,--
  When it's _got_ to be, it melts!
But I aim to keep a cheerful mind,
  Ef I can't keep nothin' else!
I knowed, when I come to twenty-one,
  That I'd soon be twenty-two,--
So I waved one hand at the soft young man,
  And I said, "Good-by to _you_!"

It's _got_ to be, and it's _goin'_ to be!
  So at least I always try
To kind o' say, in a cheerful way,--
  "Well, it's _got_ to be.--Good-by!"

They kep' a-goin', the years and years,
  Yet still I smiled and smiled,--
For I'd said "Good-by" to my single life,
  And I now had a wife and child:
Mother and son and the father--one,--
  Till, last, on her bed of pain,
She jes' smiled up, like she always done,--
  And I said "Good-by" again.

It's _got_ to be, and it's _goin'_ to be!
  So at least I always try
To kind o' say, in a humble way,--
  "Well, it's _got_ to be. Good-by!"

And then my boy--as he growed to be
  Almost a man in size,--
Was more than a pride and joy to me,
  With his mother's smilin' eyes.--
He gimme the slip, when the War broke out,
  And followed me. And I
Never knowed till the first right's end ...
  I found him, and then, ... "Good-by."

It's _got_ to be, and it's _goin'_ to be!
  So at least I always try
To kind o' say, in a patient way,
  "Well, it's _got_ to be. Good-by!"

I have said, "Good-by!--Good-by!--Good-by!"
  With my very best good will,
All through life from the first,--and I
  Am a cheerful old man still:

But it's _got_ to end, and it's _goin'_ to end!
  And this is the thing I'll do,--
With my last breath I will laugh, O Death,
  And say "Good-by" to _you_!...

It's _got_ to be! And again I say,--
  When his old scythe circles high,
I'll laugh--of course, in the kindest way,--
  As I say "Good-by!--Good-by!"

© James Whitcomb Riley