| The pawpaw grows out in the wood
Upon a little tree, It has a flavor sweet and good That quite agrees with me. Its mushy meat I fain would gulp, 'Tis soothing to my soul; It has brown seeds and juicy pulp, A skin surrounds the whole. I meet some folks upon life's road Who do not like its taste And if they had a wagon load Would let them go to waste. I might be able to conceive, If I should firmly strive How one might be content to leave The pleasant family hive And go out in the cruel world, In loneliness to roam Where disappointment's darts are hurled And never think of home; Or even how a man might learn To love his mother-in-law, But cannot see how one could spurn The glorious pawpaw. If I were rich as Morganheim I'd buy a plot of land And put in all my leisure time Upon a project grand; I'd set it out in pawpaw trees And thus provide a treat, That all the folks on land and sea Might have enough to eat. __Albert Stroud. |
Verdigris Valley Verse
Albert Stroud
(Coffeyville, Kansas: The Journal Press. 1917)
Page 96
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