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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AUNT CAROLINE, by ANNYE LEWIS ALLISON
First Line: A colored woman, bent and old and wrinkled
Last Line: Her patient, kindly face is living still.
Subject(s): Memory
First Line: A colored woman, bent and old and wrinkled
Last Line: Her patient, kindly face is living still.
Subject(s): Memory
A colored woman, bent and old and wrinkled,
Driving her country produce to the town,
A small, black ox drawing a tiny ox-cart,
With bags of apples or of butterbeans
And peas, shelled by her busy, gnarled, old fingers;
Black walnuts, beaten from their outer shells;
Small pear tomatoes of a golden yellow;
Brown eggs she gathered from her flock of hens;
Fresh country sausage and sweet pats of butter
And ears of popcorn, yellow, white and red.
And always, in her heart, she kept a corner
For little children, eager, wistful-eyed,
And brought us many a homely, country treasure:
Long honey-locusts, dappled green and brown,
Jugs of sweet cider of her own home brewing
And black, sloe cherries from one stunted tree.
Treasures which never could be bought with money,
But which, no doubt, we valued all the more,
And 'round her little cart we always crowded,
Sure of a welcome and a friendly smile.
Long years have passed since we were little children,
The aged country woman long has gone,
But, on the Book of Memory's fragrant pages,
Her patient, kindly face is living still.
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