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willie dunn - the planting of the apple tree lyrics

[verse]
come, let us plant the apple tree
cleave the tough greensward with a spade
wide let its hollow bed be made
there gently lay the roots and there
sift the dark mold with kindly care
and press it o’er them tenderly
as round the sleeping infant’s feet
we softly fold the cradle sheet
so plant we the apple tree

[verse]
what plant we in this apple tree?
buds, which with the breath of summer days
shall lengthen into leafy sprays
boughs where the thrush with crimson br++sts
shall haunt and sing and hide her nest
we plant on the sunny lea
a shadow for the noontide hour
a shelter from the summer shower
when we plant the apple tree

[verse]
what plant we in this apple tree?
sweets for a hundred flowery springs
too low the may wind’s restless wings
when from the orchard row he pours
its fragrance through our open doors
a world of blossom for the bees
flowers for the sick girl’s silent room
for the glad infant, sprigs of bloom
we plant with the apple tree
[verse]
what plant we in this apple tree?
fruits that shall swell in sunny june
and redden in the august noon
and drop when gentle airs come by
that fan the blue september sky
while children come with cries of glee
seek them where the fragrant grass
betrays their beds to those who pass
at the foot of the apple tree

[verse]
and when above this apple tree
the winter stars are quivering bright
then winds go howling through the night
girl, whose young eyes fill with mirth
shall peel its fruit by the cottage hearth
then guests in prouder homes shall see
heaped with the grape of cintra’s vine
and golden orange of the line
the fruit of the apple tree

[verse]
the fruitage of this apple tree
takes wind and a flag of red and white
shall bear the coasts that lie afar
where men shall wonder at the view
and asking what fair grove they grew
the sojourners beyond the sea
shall think of childhood’s careless day
and long long hours of summer play
in the shade of the apple tree
[verse]
each year shall give this apple tree
a broader flesh of roseate bloom
a deeper maze of verdurous gloom
and listen when the frost+clouds lower
the crisp brown leaves and the thicker shower
the years shall come and pass, but we
shall hear no longer where we lie
the summer song, the autumn sigh
in the boughs of the apple tree

[verse]
and time shall waste this apple tree
oh, when it’s aged branches throw
then shadows on the ground below
shall fraud and force and iron will
oppress the weak and the helpless still?
what shall the task of mercy be
amend the toils, the strifes, the tears
of those who live when length of years
is wasting this apple tree

[verse]
“who planted this old apple tree?”
the children of the distant day
thus, some aged man shall say
when gazing on its mossy stem
the gray+haired man shall answer them
“a poet of the land was he
born in the rude of the good old times
to say he made some quaint old rhymes
on planting the apple tree
on planting the apple tree.”

- willie dunn lyrics

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