ROUND THE MULBERRY TREE

Pete Blackburn

We would sit in the shade of that old Mulberry tree on hot summer days

Cleaning catfish big and small and joke about the one that got away

Sometimes we would just sit and enjoy being there in the shade

We must of went through gallons of iced tea beneath that old tree

It’s branches strong just calling out “climb me if you dare!”

I wanted to climb to the top just to see what I could see

As I started up the trunk my mother turned and gave me a glare

Although she never said a word I knew better than to go there

For I knew that tree was not put there for me to climb,

But for the beauty and the shade

It was a place for the family to relax, talk and play

Or to listen to granddaddy talk of his childhood days

With the berries all so plump and sweet

You dare not walk under it with your bare feet

We built many of go-carts under that old tree

The three- shade tree mechanics, Bill, Paul and me

Oh how we would play for hours

Sometimes we would fuss and fight, eye-to-eye we would not see

Fighting or playing that’s where we would be without a care

We would work out our differences beneath that old tree

For the most part of the day that old tree would be ours

In the fall all the leaves would fall all over the ground

During the winter it looked so cold and lonely with no one around

With its branches all naked and bare

How could Mother Nature be so mean?

In the spring it would come to life again

Just to say, “come and climb me my little friend”

“Come on and climb me, you won’t be seen”

Sometimes when there was no one around,

I would climb that big beautiful tree,

And when I could not be found that were I would be

Up there, in the top of that old tree

As I think back I sure miss that old Mulberry tree

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