There Was a Cherry-Tree - Read by DLThere Was a Cherry-Tree - Read by DL
There Was a Cherry-Tree
A brief reading of James Whitcomb Riley’s “There Was a Cherry-Tree” reflects on childhood, colour, and gratitude through simple, vivid nature imagery. The focus stays on one boy, one tree, and the lasting sweetness of their shared moments.
1:07•20 May 2012
Cherry Blossoms and Childhood: A Gentle Reading of Riley’s Poem
Episode Overview
- Shows how a single childhood image, like a cherry tree in bloom, can stay vivid long into adulthood.
- Highlights the contrast between the intense colours remembered by a child and the paler shades seen later in life.
- Uses simple nature imagery—blossom, bird, and fruit—to suggest joy and innocence.
- Hints at the value of gratitude for past moments through the call to "Give thanks and joy."
- Offers a short, focused listening experience centred solely on the poem itself.
“There was a cherry-tree, its bloomy snows, cool, even now, the fevered sight that knows no more its airy visions of pure joy, as when you were a boy.”
What can we learn from those quiet childhood moments that stay bright in our minds for years? This short reading of James Whitcomb Riley’s **“There Was a Cherry-Tree”** offers a gentle pause in the day and a return to simple, sensory memory. Read by DL as part of a LibriVox Weekly Poetry project, the piece stays close to Riley’s nostalgic tone.
You’ll hear about “a cherry-tree, its bloomy snows, cool, even now, the fevered sight that knows no more its airy visions of pure joy, as when you were a boy,” and feel how one ordinary tree can hold a whole childhood inside it.
The language is plain yet rich: white blossom, a “blue-jay” perched with “his blue against its white,” and the slow shift from “pure white snows” to “crimson fruitage.” The poem moves from seeing the tree as a child, to remembering it later, when the colours don’t seem quite as bright and the magic has faded a little. There’s a quiet sense of gratitude in the lines “Give thanks and joy. There was a bloom of snow. There was a boy.
There was a blue jay of the realest blue. And fruit for both of you.” It hints at how fleeting those perfect moments are, yet how firmly they stay rooted in memory. The recording is brief and straightforward, with no commentary or analysis, just Riley’s words allowed to stand on their own. It suits anyone who wants a calm, self-contained piece of classic poetry that touches on memory, change and the sweetness of small pleasures.
If a single tree can carry this much meaning, what small scene from your own childhood still colours the way you see your life today?
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