| Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917. |
| |
| 367. Under a Wiltshire Apple Tree |
| By Anna Bunston (Mrs. De Bary) |
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| SOME folk as can afford, | |
| So I’ve heard say, | |
| Set up a sort of cross | |
| Right in the garden way | |
| To mind ’em of the Lord. | 5 |
| |
| But I, when I do see | |
| Thik apple tree | |
| An’ stoopin’ limb | |
| All spread wi’ moss, | |
| I think of Him | 10 |
| And how He talks wi’ me. | |
| |
| I think of God | |
| And how He trod | |
| That garden long ago; | |
| He walked, I reckon, to and fro | 15 |
| And then sat down | |
| Upon the groun’ | |
| Or some low limb | |
| What suited Him | |
| Such as you see | 20 |
| On many a tree, | |
| And on thik very one | |
| Where I at set o’ sun | |
| Do sit and talk wi’ He. | |
| |
| And, mornings too, I rise and come | 25 |
| An’ sit down where the branch be low; | |
| A bird do sing, a bee do hum, | |
| The flowers in the border blow, | |
| And all my heart’s so glad and clear | |
| As pools when mists do disappear: | 30 |
| As pools a-laughing in the light | |
| When mornin’ air is swep’ an’ bright, | |
| As pools what got all Heaven in sight | |
| So’s my heart’s cheer | |
| When He be near. | 35 |
| |
| He never pushed the garden door, | |
| He left no footmark on the floor; | |
| I never heard ’Un stir nor tread | |
| And yet His Hand do bless my head, | |
| And when ’tis time for work to start | 40 |
| I takes Him with me in my heart. | |
| |
| And when I die, pray God I see | |
| At very last thik apple tree | |
| An’ stoopin’ limb, | |
| And think of Him | 45 |
| And all He been to me. | |
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