Classic Poem

" Twelve miles? "
" Twelve miles — in the cool o' th' mornin'. "
" But look — such a tiny baby! "
" He's five weeks a'ready " — she snuggled him close in her arms —
" But I couldn' quite leave him with the othah children. "
" Others? " — she looked so young,
Her milky brow and blue-gentian eyes.
" O' cou'se — six — an' Co'nelia an' Jim ah lots o' help;
Las' wintah, when they couldn' go to school — "
" Couldn't go to school? "
" Coz 'twas too fah an' they had no shoes —
See, they made these nice little baskets,
Jus' like my big ones. "

" Oh yes, the baskets — you came all these miles to sell them? "
" We jus' had to have money t' rent a plow,
Or else we won't have no co'n —
It's plantin' time. "

" But your husband? " — he sat there lumpish.
Her voice grew soft as the pink-petalled wind
In the apple-blossoms:
" He nevah c'd sell no baskets —
Besides, I couldn' let him come alone. "