Image courtesy of Pixomar/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Elsewhere in the produce section, I overheard a very young voice conversing with his mom.
I want some cherry juice!
Cherry juice?! Mom said, a hint of amusement in her voice. When have you ever had cherry juice?
A moment of softest silence. Then, with resolve: When I was a baby!
I only remembered this exchange hours later when poring through a couple of anthologies, looking for a poem for today. Thats when I found it, in The Random House Book of Poetry for Children (selected by Jack Prelutsky, 1983). Yes, Delmore Schwartzs I Am Cherry Alive! The poem was made into a picture book in 1979 with illustrations by Barbara Cooney. That book is no longer in print, but you might find a used copy online. (I may have to get one myself.)
Schwartz (1913-1966) was a critically acclaimed, award-winning writer whose personal life was often rocky. He caught, I think, the spirit of that little boy I overheard today in these impish, if wistful, verses.
I Am Cherry Alive
by Delmore Schwartz
I am cherry alive, the little girl sang,
Each morning I am something new:
I am apple, I am plum, I am just as excited
As the boys who made the Halloween bang:
I am tree, I am cat, I am blossom too:
When I like, if I like, I can be someone new,
Someone very old, a witch in a zoo:
I can be someone else whenever I think who,
And I want to be everything sometimes too:
And the peach has a pit and I know that too,
And I put it in along with everything
To make the grown-ups laugh whenever I sing:
And I sing : It is true; It is untrue;
I know, I know, the true is untrue,
The peach has a pit,
The pit has a peach:
And both may be wrong
When I sing my song,
But I dont tell the grown-ups, because it is sad,
And I want them to laugh just like I do
Because they grew up
And forgot what they knew
And they are sure
I will forget it some day too.
They are wrong. They are wrong.
When I sang my song, I knew, I knew!
I am red, I am gold,
I am green, I am blue,
I will always be me,
I will always be new!
Cheers with cherry juice! Tip your glass to more great poetry at The Opposite of Indifference , where the very lively Tabatha is rounding up Poetry Friday. By the way, I featured a lovely old book Tabatha gave me during our December poetry swap, ENGLISH BOOK ILLUSTRATION 1800-1900 by Philip James, over at artsyletters this week!
Comments
Glass tapping cherry juice with you!
Hi, Diane! Well said. Thanks for visiting.
Doraine, isn't that a fabulous line? (tap*tap)
Dearest Jama, I'm swooning right with you over Barbara Cooney. Glad you enjoyed, and thanks for coming over for a spot of cherry juice!
Hi, Gisele - I know. "I will always be me,/I will always be new!" - isn't that wonderful?!
Love this cherry juice poem - especially the idea:
"I will always be me,
I will always be new!"
Those are words to live by...thanks for sharing! =)
Hi, Bridget - I agree. Words to live by.
Tara, I love that you see your students in the narrator of this poem - they're lucky you do.
Hi, Patricia - I agree. We can be "new" and yet the same person as well, at any age!
Matt, definitely! Thanks for coming by.
Mary Lee, a good mantra!
Thanks, Liz - Your comment reminds me of Wordsworth- "But trailing clouds of glory do we come/ From God, who is our home: Heaven lies about us in our infancy!"
Jone, ice is always a big deal down here when we get it! And airports are some of my favorite places to eavesdrop/people-watch... ;0)
But I dont tell the grown-ups, because it is sad,
And I want them to laugh just like I do
Because they grew up
And forgot what they knew
And they are sure
I will forget it some day too.
They are wrong. They are wrong.
--- how awesome to have this kind of resolve. I also love how you have linked it so beautifully with that random incident in the supermarket with the young voice and cherry juice. Reminds me to always find the 'young voice' within me. :)
Thanks for coming by and for your insightful comments. Those lines caught me, too!