O, THE fair time, the rare time, I can feel it in the air, As we take our brimming baskets and go out to see the fair; The lasses decked with ribbons red, the colts with ribbons blue— What a trial for the gallant lads to choose between the two! No season of old mother earth can half such blessings bring When the bloom is on the maiden and the colts are in the ring. O, the beauty of the bonnie curls—the rapture of the race! O! the maiden with the pretty foot—the filly that can pace! The one in russet harness with a halter I can hold, But the other's got me harnessed in her wavy hair of gold. O, the autumn time is full of joy and every goodly thing, When the bloom is on the maiden and the colts are in the ring. O, the fair time, the rare time, when the Jerseys set the pace In a sheen of silken colors and a skin of chrome lace, And the Berkshires tie their tails up in a lovely Psyche knot, And the Shorthorns and the Shropshires and Southdowns make it hot. "I wouldn't live here always," is the doleful song they sing, Who never loved a maiden while the colts were in the ring. O, the fair time, the rare time, in our life a verdant spot, When the people are all jolly and their trials are forgot; And I sit and muse in fancy to the days so long ago When I sparked my little sweetheart out to see the County show. Since then old Time has made me dance—to-day I'll make him sing, For the bloom is on the maiden and the colts are in the ring. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: WIDOW MCFARLANE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS ONE OF THE LEAST OF THESE, MY LITTLE ONE' by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON PLEDGE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON GHOSTS OF THE OLD YEAR by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON DOMESDAY BOOK: DR. BURKE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: JOHN CABANIS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |