Beneath The Cherry Plum Tree

When I was so much younger
       I played in the shade of a cherry plum tree
As the years grew longer
      I stayed by the shade of the cherry plum tree
My cousins and I would climb while laughing
      about how high we’d be in the cherry plum tree
And I learned some about life and living
       While swinging from the cherry plum tree
The year my Grandfather died
      I cried on a bough of the cherry plum tree
And I swallowed the sorrow and tears
      And buried his memory beneath the cherry plum tree
My best friend, a cat, and I would sit
      And be nothing together under the cherry plum tree
And when he died too, I buried him
       Where he still is beneath the cherry plum tree
When first my heart was broken
        I dried tears on the cherry plum tree
When I wanted to die, I thought I’d do it
       By a rope from the cherry plum tree
I held my newborn baby up to touch
       The leaves of the cherry plum tree
And as a little boy he climbs like I once did
        On the limbs of the cherry plum tree
My love and I stood and held each other
         Beneath the cherry plum tree
And my love said he wished to marry me
         When we stood under the cherry plum tree
I still pick the summer fruits
         Given by the cherry plum tree
It’s funny how much of me is there
         Beside that cherry plum tree
Now my Grandmother wants to sell the land
         That is home to the cherry plum tree
What will I do when the time comes
         When it’s no longer my cherry plum tree
When that last day comes I know
          I’ll weep and hold on to the cherry plum tree
For I’ll need to cut off so much of my past
           It’ll stay with the cherry plum tree
My last request for when I’m old
         Is to see one last cherry plum tree
When I expire please bury me
        Beneath someone’s cherry plum tree   
It is my one last desire to be buried
         Please bury me
               With the rest of me
        Beneath a cherry plum tree