Under the Tree | Page 3

way,
The courthouse place where the wagons stop,?And the bridge and the scales and the blacksmith shop.
The church steeple looked very tall and thin,?And I found the house that we live in.
I saw it under the poplar tree,?And I bent my head and tried to see
Our house when the rain is over it,?And how it looks when the lamps are lit.
I saw the swing from up on the hill,?The ropes were hanging very still.
And over and over I tried to see?Some of us walking under the tree,
And the children playing everywhere,?And how it looks when I am there.
But Dickie said, "Come on, let's race";?And Will had found the strawberry place.
AUTUMN
Dick and Will and Charles and I?Were playing it was election day,?And I was running for president,?And Dick was a band that was going to play,
And Charles and Will were a street parade,?But Clarence came and said that he?Was going to run for president,?And I could run for school-trustee.
He made some flags for Charles and Will?And a badge to go on Dickie's coat.?He stood some cornstalks by the fence?And had them for the men that vote.
Then he climbed on a box and made a speech?To the cornstalk men that were in a row.?It was all about the dem-o-crats,?And "I de-fy any man to show."
And "I de-fy any man to say."?And all about "It's a big disgrace."?He spoke his speech out very loud?And shook his fist in a cornstalk's face.
THE RABBIT
When they said the time to hide was mine,?I hid back under a thick grape vine.
And while I was still for the time to pass,?A little gray thing came out of the grass.
He hopped his way through the melon bed?And sat down close by a cabbage head.
He sat down close where I could see,?And his big still eyes looked hard at me,
His big eyes bursting out of the rim,?And I looked back very hard at him.
CRESCENT MOON
And Dick said, "Look what I have found!"?And when we saw we danced around,?And made our feet just tip the ground.
We skipped our toes and sang, "Oh-lo.?Oh-who, oh-who, oh what do you know!?Oh-who, oh-hi, oh-loo, kee-lo!"
We clapped our hands and sang, "Oh-ee!"?It made us jump and laugh to see?The little new moon above the tree.
FATHER'S STORY
We put more coal on the big red fire,?And while we are waiting for dinner to cook,?Our father comes and tells us about?A story that he has read in a book.
And Charles and Will and Dick and I?And all of us but Clarence are there.?And some of us sit on Father's legs,?But one has to sit on the little red chair.
And when we are sitting very still,?He sings us a song or tells a piece;?He sings Dan Tucker Went to Town,?Or he tells us about the golden fleece.
He tells about the golden wool,?And some of it is about a boy?Named Jason, and about a ship,?And some is about a town called Troy.
And while he is telling or singing it through,?I stand by his arm, for that is my place.?And I push my fingers into his skin?To make little dents in his big rough face.
CHRISTMAS MORNING
If Bethlehem were here today,?Or this were very long ago,?There wouldn't be a winter time?Nor any cold or snow.
I'd run out through the garden gate,?And down along the pasture walk;?And off beside the cattle barns?I'd hear a kind of gentle talk.
I'd move the heavy iron chain?And pull away the wooden pin;?I'd push the door a little bit?And tiptoe very softly in.
The pigeons and the yellow hens?And all the cows would stand away;?Their eyes would open wide to see?A lady in the manger hay,
If this were very long ago?And Bethlehem were here today.
And Mother held my hand and smiled--?I mean the lady would--and she?Would take the woolly blankets off?Her little boy so I could see.
His shut-up eyes would be asleep,?And he would look like our John,?And he would be all crumpled too,?And have a pinkish color on.
I'd watch his breath go in and out.?His little clothes would all be white.?I'd slip my finger in his hand?To feel how he could hold it tight.
And she would smile and say, "Take care,"?The mother, Mary, would, "Take care";?And I would kiss his little hand?And touch his hair.
While Mary put the blankets back?The gentle talk would soon begin.?And when I'd tiptoe softly out?I'd meet the wise men going in.
PEOPLE GOING BY
Before they come I hear their talk?And hear their feet go on the walk.
Some go fast and some go slow,?And some of them I almost know.
In mornings they are going down?To see somebody in the town.
Or Mrs. Warner hurries past;?She has to go and come back fast.
She walks by quick and will not stop,?To go to the church with the cross on top.
I think she goes there every day?To take her rosary and pray.
And one of them is Mr. Jim--?And the big white