The Fruit Shop Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABBCDCDEFGHGGIJIJJ KLKLLMNMNNOBOBBPQPQQ RSRTSKUKUVWXWXXYZYZY YA2B2A2B2B2C2D2C2E2D 2F2G2F2G2G2H2I2H2H2I 2J2I2K2J2E2L2J2L2L2M 2XM2XM2M2N2J2N2J2J2O 2P2O2P2O2O2YYJ2AJ2AJ 2J2Q2R2Q2R2R2S2O2S2S 2T2O2T2O2O2O2U2O2U2U 2J2O2J2O2O2V2CV2CCO2 O2O2O2O2O2KO2KO2O2O2 O2O2O2O2YKYKCK| Cross ribboned shoes a muslin gown | A |
| High waisted girdled with bright blue | B |
| A straw poke bonnet which hid the frown | A |
| She pluckered her little brows into | B |
| As she picked her dainty passage through | B |
| The dusty street Ah Mademoiselle | C |
| A dirty pathway we need rain | D |
| My poor fruits suffer and the shell | C |
| Of this nut's too big for its kernel lain | D |
| Here in the sun it has shrunk again | E |
| The baker down at the corner says | F |
| We need a battle to shake the clouds | G |
| But I am a man of peace my ways | H |
| Don't look to the killing of men in crowds | G |
| Poor fellows with guns and bayonets for shrouds | G |
| Pray Mademoiselle come out of the sun | I |
| Let me dust off that wicker chair It's cool | J |
| In here for the green leaves I have run | I |
| In a curtain over the door make a pool | J |
| Of shade You see the pears on that stool | J |
| The shadow keeps them plump and fair | K |
| Over the fruiterer's door the leaves | L |
| Held back the sun a greenish flare | K |
| Quivered and sparked the shop the sheaves | L |
| Of sunbeams glanced from the sign on the eaves | L |
| Shot from the golden letters broke | M |
| And splintered to little scattered lights | N |
| Jeanne Tourmont entered the shop her poke | M |
| Bonnet tilted itself to rights | N |
| And her face looked out like the moon on nights | N |
| Of flickering clouds Monsieur Popain I | O |
| Want gooseberries an apple or two | B |
| Or excellent plums but not if they're high | O |
| Haven't you some which a strong wind blew | B |
| I've only a couple of francs for you | B |
| Monsieur Popain shrugged and rubbed his hands | P |
| What could he do the times were sad | Q |
| A couple of francs and such demands | P |
| And asking for fruits a little bad | Q |
| Wind blown indeed He never had | Q |
| Anything else than the very best | R |
| He pointed to baskets of blunted pears | S |
| With the thin skin tight like a bursting vest | R |
| All yellow and red and brown in smears | T |
| Monsieur Popain's voice denoted tears | S |
| He took up a pear with tender care | K |
| And pressed it with his hardened thumb | U |
| Smell it Mademoiselle the perfume there | K |
| Is like lavender and sweet thoughts come | U |
| Only from having a dish at home | V |
| And those grapes They melt in the mouth like wine | W |
| Just a click of the tongue and they burst to honey | X |
| They're only this morning off the vine | W |
| And I paid for them down in silver money | X |
| The Corporal's widow is witness her pony | X |
| Brought them in at sunrise to day | Y |
| Those oranges Gold They're almost red | Z |
| They seem little chips just broken away | Y |
| From the sun itself Or perhaps instead | Z |
| You'd like a pomegranate they're rarely gay | Y |
| When you split them the seeds are like crimson spray | Y |
| Yes they're high they're high and those Turkey figs | A2 |
| They all come from the South and Nelson's ships | B2 |
| Make it a little hard for our rigs | A2 |
| They must be forever giving the slips | B2 |
| To the cursed English and when men clips | B2 |
| Through powder to bring them why dainties mounts | C2 |
| A bit in price Those almonds now | D2 |
| I'll strip off that husk when one discounts | C2 |
| A life or two in a nigger row | E2 |
| With the man who grew them it does seem how | D2 |
| They would come dear and then the fight | F2 |
| At sea perhaps our boats have heels | G2 |
| And mostly they sail along at night | F2 |
| But once in a way they're caught one feels | G2 |
| Ivory's not better nor finer why peels | G2 |
| From an almond kernel are worth two sous | H2 |
| It's hard to sell them now he sighed | I2 |
| Purses are tight but I shall not lose | H2 |
| There's plenty of cheaper things to choose | H2 |
| He picked some currants out of a wide | I2 |
| Earthen bowl They make the tongue | J2 |
| Almost fly out to suck them bride | I2 |
| Currants they are they were planted long | K2 |
| Ago for some new Marquise among | J2 |
| Other great beauties before the Chateau | E2 |
| Was left to rot Now the Gardener's wife | L2 |
| He that marched off to his death at Marengo | J2 |
| Sells them to me she keeps her life | L2 |
| From snuffing out with her pruning knife | L2 |
| She's a poor old thing but she learnt the trade | M2 |
| When her man was young and the young Marquis | X |
| Couldn't have enough garden The flowers he made | M2 |
| All new And the fruits But 'twas said that he | X |
| Was no friend to the people and so they laid | M2 |
| Some charge against him a cavalcade | M2 |
| Of citizens took him away they meant | N2 |
| Well but I think there was some mistake | J2 |
| He just pottered round in his garden bent | N2 |
| On growing things we were so awake | J2 |
| In those days for the New Republic's sake | J2 |
| He's gone and the garden is all that's left | O2 |
| Not in ruin but the currants and apricots | P2 |
| And peaches furred and sweet with a cleft | O2 |
| Full of morning dew in those green glazed pots | P2 |
| Why Mademoiselle there is never an eft | O2 |
| Or worm among them and as for theft | O2 |
| How the old woman keeps them I cannot say | Y |
| But they're finer than any grown this way | Y |
| Jeanne Tourmont drew back the filigree ring | J2 |
| Of her striped silk purse tipped it upside down | A |
| And shook it two coins fell with a ding | J2 |
| Of striking silver beneath her gown | A |
| One rolled the other lay a thing | J2 |
| Sparked white and sharply glistening | J2 |
| In a drop of sunlight between two shades | Q2 |
| She jerked the purse took its empty ends | R2 |
| And crumpled them toward the centre braids | Q2 |
| The whole collapsed to a mass of blends | R2 |
| Of colours and stripes Monsieur Popain friends | R2 |
| We have always been In the days before | S2 |
| The Great Revolution my aunt was kind | O2 |
| When you needed help You need no more | S2 |
| 'Tis we now who must beg at your door | S2 |
| And will you refuse The little man | T2 |
| Bustled denied his heart was good | O2 |
| But times were hard He went to a pan | T2 |
| And poured upon the counter a flood | O2 |
| Of pungent raspberries tanged like wood | O2 |
| He took a melon with rough green rind | O2 |
| And rubbed it well with his apron tip | U2 |
| Then he hunted over the shop to find | O2 |
| Some walnuts cracking at the lip | U2 |
| And added to these a barberry slip | U2 |
| Whose acrid oval berries hung | J2 |
| Like fringe and trembled He reached a round | O2 |
| Basket with handles from where it swung | J2 |
| Against the wall laid it on the ground | O2 |
| And filled it then he searched and found | O2 |
| The francs Jeanne Tourmont had let fall | V2 |
| You'll return the basket Mademoiselle | C |
| She smiled The next time that I call | V2 |
| Monsieur You know that very well | C |
| 'Twas lightly said but meant to tell | C |
| Monsieur Popain bowed somewhat abashed | O2 |
| She took her basket and stepped out | O2 |
| The sunlight was so bright it flashed | O2 |
| Her eyes to blindness and the rout | O2 |
| Of the little street was all about | O2 |
| Through glare and noise she stumbled dazed | O2 |
| The heavy basket was a care | K |
| She heard a shout and almost grazed | O2 |
| The panels of a chaise and pair | K |
| The postboy yelled and an amazed | O2 |
| Face from the carriage window gazed | O2 |
| She jumped back just in time her heart | O2 |
| Beating with fear Through whirling light | O2 |
| The chaise departed but her smart | O2 |
| Was keen and bitter In the white | O2 |
| Dust of the street she saw a bright | O2 |
| Streak of colours wet and gay | Y |
| Red like blood Crushed but fair | K |
| Her fruit stained the cobbles of the way | Y |
| Monsieur Popain joined her there | K |
| Tiens Mademoiselle | C |
| c'est le General Bonaparte partant pour la Guerre | K |
Amy Lowell
(1)
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