The man with the plum . [English]

I never really knew who he was you see
The man who gave me a plum.

On a bright sunny morning on market day
As I sat on my grandfather’s cart full of hay
He came upto me and patted my head
I asked him his name but instead
He gave me a ripe red plum and said

‘Here’s to your bonny health little maid
May the blue of your innocent eyes never fade
For you are the daintiest creature ever made
Me’wish you never be glum.’

‘Kind Sir’ said I ‘ how may I serve thee?’
For the plum was truly a treat you see
And I still remember the errand he bade me
‘Tell your mother I’ll come’

‘Tell her bonnie girl that you met me today
And very soon I shall be coming her way ‘
And so the next time when I passed by the churchyard where she lay…
I told her of the man with the plum.

‘Oh Mother !’ I told her, ‘ this man so fine’
‘Who also had deep blue eyes like mine
Bade me to tell you the same strange line-
“ Very soon I shall be coming her way’
Though I told him ‘ Oh Sir ! but that cannot be
For my mother lies buried below the fig tree’
But he chuckled and said, that he would soon be free
- That all barriers would be overcome .

So the next time I walked by where my mother was laid
I sat on the new marble grave beside her’s in the shade
And told her about the man, though a few days had been delayed
The man who gave me a plum.


[Under heady influence of William Wordsworth]
[originally written :May 7, 2010 at 2:36am]