Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience - Natalie Merchant

I had a silver penny

And an apricot tree

And I said to the sailor

On the white quay

‘Sailor O sailor

Will you bring me

If I give you my penny

And my apricot tree

‘A fez from Algeria

An Arab drum to beat

A little gilt sword

And a parakeet?'

And he smiled and he kissed me

As strong as death

And I saw his red tongue

And I felt his sweet breath

‘You may keep your penny

And your apricot tree

And I’ll bring your presents

Back from sea.'

O the ship dipped down

On the rim of the sky

And I waited while three

Long summers went by

Then one steel morning

On the white quay

I saw a grey ship

Come in from sea

Slowly she came

Across the bay

For her flashing rigging

Was shot away

All round her wake

The seabirds cried

And flew in and out

Of the hole in her side

Slowly she came

In the path of the sun

And I heard the sound

Of a distant gun

And a stranger came running

Up to me

From the deck of the ship

And he said, said he

‘O are you the boy

Who would wait on the quay

With the silver penny

And the apricot tree?

‘I've a plum-coloured fez

And a drum for thee

And a sword and a parakeet

From over the sea.'

‘O where is the sailor

With bold red hair?

And what is that volley

On the bright air?

‘O where are the other

Girls and boys?

And why have you brought me

Children’s toys?'