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THE BECKY COLLECTION



The Watermelon Patch ©By Becky

Many years ago when I was just a child When summer came we all went hog wild On hot summer days we'd sneak to the patch Crawling along rows to find melons to snatch We'd pop our heads up and look all around Then shush each other not to make any sound On knees, checking the color at end of the stem Finding two just right we'd make off with them Still crawling to the end of the long row Then slither under the barbed wire so low It was worth the scratches we got on our skin Facing each other each face had a grin Heck we had made it, we had not been caught Though sneaking and stealing we had been taught Was considered a sin read from the good book We would be shamed, a minute, was all it took Then we'd race to the creek and all laugh out loud Lay down for awhile and look up at the clouds Shucking our clothes we would run for the pool Where the water was deep and wonderfully cool After cavorting, dunking and fooling around We'd climb on the bank, flop down on the ground Busting open the melons we'd take out the heart Cause all of us knew that was the best part Greedily gobble the chunks held in each hand These were the best melons, the best in the land The gluttony ended we would then have a test Who could sling farthest, who could hit best The rind as we flung it at each other and trees Sure made a mess of us, and did attract bees Why did we eat without clothes, do you think We were back in the pool, rinsed quick as a wink We started for home by the time we got there Everything had been dried even our hair Mama didn't know different or so we all thought One day she came to the creek and we got caught She came to dangle her feet in cool water and lay Back on the grass and ponder her long day We didn't see her as we ran jumped in the pool Where the water was deep and wondrously cool After we had played and cavorted awhile We came out of the water and there lost our smile There she was her head propped on her hand Just looking at us she then started to stand She smiled at us and then looked around Guess what she saw there down on the ground The watermelons we had just snitched that day We looked at each other and had nothing to say She sat down on a log and motioned us each To bend over her lap, she whacked us to teach "It's wrong for you to steal from others" said she Then our cries turned to sounds of pure glee Cause Mama busted them, then helped us eat The melons so juicy the hearts were so sweet You'd think we quit raiding the Watermelon Patch Uh! uh! not hardly for there can be no match To the taste of a melon you buy from the store We just kept snitching and went back for more Before Mama died when I was full grown She told me something that I had not known Uncle planted lots of extra melons each year Just so we could snitch them, Oh what a dear To this day I can't find a melon to match The ones long ago snitched out of that Patch

belljoye February 21, 1999





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