[Michelle Shocked]
Can you tell me
What happened to the blossom
The blackberry blossom
When the summertime came?
The blackberry blossom
Oh the last time I saw one
Was down in the bramble
Where I rambled in the spring.
The bramble was wild
I was torn by the briars
My love I wooed her
As she lay there
With flowers in her hair
And her cheeks all flush
It was a blackberry blossom
From the blackberry bush.
When I was pickin' berries
I did not miss the blossom
The blackberry blossom
Is white as a snow.
But the berry that it brings
Is sweeter than molasses
And black as the wings
Of an Arkansas crow.
The Arkansas crow
Is a devil and a demon
Known for his cacklin'
And his screamin'
Drivin' away
The swallow and the thrush
From the blackberry blossom
And the blackberry bush.
I was pickin' berries
When that crow flew above me
Carryin' my baby so far away.
Now each spring I lay
A blackberry blossom
By a cold gravestone
On the Arkansas clay.
The Arkansas clay
Is rocky and hard
With weeds growin' over
In the old graveyard.
And then the day settles down
To an evenin' hush
Over the blackberry blossom
And the blackberry bush.