Something Sweet

Would we not love to recapture the sweetness, the sweet dreams of childhood? Some of my own sweet dreams were prompted by The Sugar Plumb Fairy from the Nutcracker Ballet. Sugar plumbs, it seems, weren't plumbs, after all; they were Christmas candies. While I looked for the story of the famous fairy and a recipe for the confections, I ran across the most delightful children's poem by Eugene Field. Here it is. I offer it as an antidote to the cares of the season.
This illustration is on a precious old scrap of linen, origin unknown. (The gingerbread dog and chocolate cat cannot be seen, but it is a lovely little vignette.


THE SUGAR-PLUM TREE by: Eugene Field (1850-1895)

AVE you ever heard of the Sugar-Plum Tree?

'T is a marvel of great renown!

It blooms on the shore of the Lollipop sea

In the garden of Shut-Eye Town;

The fruit that it bears is so wondrously sweet

(As those who have tasted it say)

That good little children have only to eat

Of that fruit to be happy next day.

 

When you 've got to the tree, you would have a hard time

To capture the fruit which I sing;

The tree is so tall that no person could climb

To the boughs where the sugar-plums swing!

But up in that tree sits a chocolate cat,

And a gingerbread dog prowls below--

And this is the way you contrive to get at

Those sugar-plums tempting you so:

 

You say but the word to that gingerbread dog

And he barks with such terrible zest

That the chocolate cat is at once all agog,

As her swelling proportions attest.

And the chocolate cat goes cavorting around

From this leafy limb unto that,

And the sugar-plums tumble, of course, to the ground--

Hurrah for that chocolate cat!

 

There are marshmallows, gumdrops, and peppermint canes,

With stripings of scarlet or gold,

And you carry away of the treasure that rains

As much as your apron can hold!

So come, little child, cuddle closer to me

In your dainty white nightcap and gown,

And I 'll rock you away to that Sugar-Plum Tree

In the garden of Shut-Eye Town.