Melon Rind Green
Life was hard when growing up cus I was poor.
Farm work always needed doing, chore after chore,
wearin' hand-me-downs, never gettin' new toys.
No time for playin' with friends, like other boys.
They made fun of me for pickin' melons and corn,
but it was the world into which I had been born.
It wasn't easy gettin' by, those days in the South,
especially when they called me, 'Melon Mouth.'
There was a road that passed by our farmland
where I sold our crops in a little wooden stand.
Folks pedaled on shiny bikes and passed me by
until one day a girl fell off hers and began to cry.
I picked her up and made sure she was alright.
She said, "I'm okay, but that gave me a fright!"
She'd hit a rock and her bike landed on a stump,
causing a tire to go flat, but I had an air pump.
She asked why she'd never seen me ridin' around,
so, I told her I didn't have a bike to get into town.
She frowned and thanked me, then on she rode,
I kicked at the dirt and felt as gawky as a toad.
A week or so later, I saw her riding a new bike.
It looked sleek and fast; the kind that I would like.
She nodded and smiled, so I smiled right back.
Yeah, that red bike had it all. Nothin' did it lack.
Mom said I'd had a visitor when workin' in the field.
Somethin' left for me beneath a tarp, concealed.
Quickly, I lifted the cover, gasped then exhaled
when I saw the girl's old bike. All words failed!
I found out that she had become my new neighbor.
Together, we fixed up the bike. It took lots of labor.
I fell in love with that girl, whose name was Helen,
when she said she could eat a whole watermelon.
She helped me paint the frame, melon rind green.
It was the coolest lookin' bike that I'd ever seen!
Cardboard melon slices with seeds behind the spokes
made the city boys keep teasin' me with lame jokes.
But I didn't care what cruel names they called me
because they suffered from green-eyed jealousy.
I had the prettiest girl in town riding at my side
and I knew when we grew up, she'd be my bride.
June 30, 2022
A Watermelon Fantasy Ride To Feed My Imagination
Contest sponsored by Mystic Rose Rose
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