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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
FALL DAYS, by WALT MASON Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh, the frost is on the pumpkin, mary jane
Last Line: And it's time the weather bureau knew reform.
Subject(s): Cost Of Living
First Line: Oh, the frost is on the pumpkin, mary jane
Last Line: And it's time the weather bureau knew reform.
Subject(s): Cost Of Living
OH, the frost is on the pumpkin, Mary Jane; and the farmer hauls the fodder in
his wain; and the ancient claybank mare has her winter coat of hair, and the
cows are bawling sadly in the rain. In the morning there's a nipping, eager
breeze, and the edges of the brook begin to freeze; all the summer bloom is
dead, and the pretty birds are sped, and I have rheumatic twinges in my knees.
You have heard me in the summer, Mary Jane, you have heard me raise the dickens
and complain, wishing for some winter sleet, telling how the sizzling heat
filled my person with a punk, unpleasant pain. And already, with a sad and
longing sigh, I am thinking of the beauties of July, and I swear by August, too;
then the skies are bright and blue, and a man can sit in comfort then and fry.
I'm opposed to Father Winter and his storm; I indorse the kind of climate that
is warm; when the nights are white with frost they increase our living's cost,
and it's time the weather bureau knew reform.