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The Sugar Plum Tree
Eugene Field
Have you ever heard of the Sugar Plum Tree?
'Tis a marvel of great renown!
It blooms on the banks of the banks of the
Lollipop Sea
in the garden of Shut Eye Town;
The fruit that it bears is so wonderously sweet
(as those who have tasted it say)
That good little children have only to eat
of that fruit to be happy next day.
When you've got to the tree
you would have a hard time to
capture the fruit which I sing;
The tree is so tall that no person could
climb
To the boughs where the Sugar Plums swing!
But up in that tree sits a Chocolate Cat
and a Gingerbread dog prowls below,
and this is the way you contrive to get at
those Sugar Plums tempting you so!
You say but the word to that Gingerbread Dog
and he barks with such terrible zest;
that the Chocolate Cat is at once all agog,
as her swelling proportions attest.
And the chocolate cat goes cavorting around
from this leafy limb unto that,
and the Sugar Plums tumble, of course, to the
ground;
Hurrah for that Chocolate Cat!
There are Marshmallows, Gumdrops and Peppermint
Canes
with stripings of Scarlet or Gold,
And you carry away of the treasure that rains
as much as your apron can hold!
So come little child, cuddle closer to me
in your Bedtime Pajamas or Gown,
and I'll rock you away to that Sugar Plum Tree,
in the Garden of Shut-Eye Town.