An Abandoned Farmhouse Garden In South Wairarapa Poem by Keith Shorrocks Johnson

FOR ANNIE GRANT

She was a heavy, red and freckled lassie
Shipped from Greenock as a serving maid
But women were few in the colony
And Jack stumped up with her passage paid.

He was older, with money, but she was strong
And she loved the work in making a farm:
This was a place where she might belong
Weary at dusk with a bairn on her arm.

So they passed, the aching treasured years
As the orchard in golden fullness bore
A bounty of apples, peaches and pears
Sweet and tart to the homestead kitchen door.

But seasons came when the fruit just fell
And who was the gardener none could tell.