Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BUTTERMILK CHANNEL, by ARTHUR GUITERMAN


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BUTTERMILK CHANNEL, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Pray tarry, nancy blossom'
Last Line: Fore the sun went down!
Subject(s): Farm Life; New York City; New York City - Colonial Period; Travel; Agriculture; Farmers; Manhattan; New York, New York; The Big Apple; Journeys; Trips


"PRAY tarry, Nancy Blossom,
With your freight of corn-in-silk
And your chickens and your cheeses
And your cans of buttermilk!
Wait the morning with your gossip
In her cabin on the strand;
Bid that lazy darky Mingo
Draw the market-boat to land;
For the river channel's brawling,
And the windy heavens frown,
And you'll never reach Manhattan
'Fore the sun goes down!"

But Nancy had her errand
And the market wouldn't wait,
So she oared the heavy wherry
Through the currents of the strait.
Then the tempest broke above her!
And the chickens squawked in fright;
And the little darky Mingo
Fairly turned from black to white
As he chattered, "Laws-a-massy!
Wuz dis nigger bawn to drown?
Oh, we'll nebber reach Manhattan
'Fore de sun goes down!"

Then she cuffed that little darky
Till she taught him to behave;
And they poured a can of buttermilk
Upon the saucy wave;
And the roughness of the channel
Grew as smooth as watered silk,
As the angry tide was tempered
By the mildness of the milk.
So they made the land in safety
'Mid the cheers of half the town
In the harbor of Manhattan
'Fore the sun went down.

When the bleak nor'easter blusters,
When the summer tempests roar
And their host of prankish goblins
Bend the masts along the shore,
When the wind-lashed wave is scurried
Down the river to the Bay,
How the surges of the channel
Froth and foam with milk and whey,
All to honor Nancy Blossom
Who achieved this high renown
When she crossed to old Manhattan
'Fore the sun went down!





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net