ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

SILK ... Maureen Clifford © The #ScribblyBark Poet

There is no more fruit,
stained fingers attest to that -
all the mulberries have gone
the tree now festooned only with
dew drops and spiders webs,
and my helper,
desire still rampant in his eye
is covered in the remnants of
the sweet explosion
he has just devoured.


Passing strangers look at him and smile.
One little boy - in the September sunshine,
arms and legs scratched, hair tousled,
cheeks and lips red as the berries,
clutching, like the laurel wreath of a victor,
a handful of mulberry leaves
for his silkworms at home.

I had a big mulberry tree in the yard in the 70's, I have a photo somewhere of my three with purple faces and purple soles of their feet.

Ooh yes - so many memories for me too! We had a giant mulberry tree in the backyard ... and I had silkworms!!

Do kids have silkworms these days? Or cover themselves with purple mulberry juice from berries eaten straight from the tree?

Love the poem, Maureen! Especially the contrast between the glory of eating and the saving of the leaves for the silkworms. Are you familiar with Douglas Stewart's poem "The Silkworms"? I've always liked it.

I can't recall the last time I saw kids doing this, must be well over 20 years ago - I don't think today's Mums are comfortable with kids eating wild food and I doubt silkworms can compete with technology. Our generations were in many ways the last of the free range kids as opposed to the 'feral' kids we tend to see these days. We were perhaps the lucky ones I haven't read that other poem but I will go and source it right away. Delighted you liked this one of mine Shelley.