I was delighted when I read this poem for the first time and I thought

 I'd share it with you  all! Mr. Eugene Field, the author, was an unusual

 poet. He wrote only children's poetry! 

Guess what his nickname was? Yes,  the Children's Poet. 

Christmas' time brings candies' and cookies' time as well!

Have you ever heard of the Sugar-Plum Tree?
'Tis a marvel of great renown!
It blooms on the shore of the Lollipop sea,

in the garden of Shut-Eye Town;
The fruit that it bears is so wondrously 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 dainty white nightcap and gown,
and I'll rock you away to that Sugar-Plum Tree
in the garden of Shut-Eye Town

Eugene Field

Updated on November, 01, 2004

Page created on November, 06, 2001