The Poetry Corner

Berries

By Walter De La Mare

There was an old woman Went blackberry picking Along the hedges From Weep to Wicking. Half a pottle - No more she had got, When out steps a Fairy From her green grot; And says, "Well, Jill, Would 'ee pick 'ee mo?" And Jill, she curtseys, And looks just so. "Be off," says the Fairy, "As quick as you can, Over the meadows To the little green lane, That dips to the hayfields Of Farmer Grimes: I've berried those hedges A score of times; Bushel on bushel I'll promise 'ee, Jill, This side of supper If 'ee pick with a will." She glints very bright, And speaks her fair; Then lo, and behold! She has faded in air. Be sure old Goodie She trots betimes Over the meadows To Farmer Grimes. And never was queen With jewellry rich As those same hedges From twig to ditch; Like Dutchmen's coffers, Fruit, thorn, and flower - They shone like William And Mary's bower. And be sure Old Goodie Went back to Weep, So tired with her basket She scarce could creep. When she comes in the dusk To her cottage door, There's Towser wagging As never before, To see his Missus So glad to be Come from her fruit-picking Back to he. As soon as next morning Dawn was grey, The pot on the hob Was simmering away; And all in a stew And a hugger-mugger Towser and Jill A-boiling of sugar, And the dark clear fruit That from Farie came, For syrup and jelly And blackberry jam. Twelve jolly gallipots Jill put by; And one little teeny one, One inch high; And that she's hidden A good thumb deep, Half way over From Wicking to Weep.