The Murderer And The Mulberry Tree

The Murderer And The 

         Mulberry Tree

The bandit from the murder ran,

His hands the coloring of blood;

He left behind a murdered man

To flee the posse that pursued.

As people saw him passing by

Curiously his hands were red.

“Mulberries”—were his alibi—

Albeit blood was all he shed.

The posse that chased after him

Caught up to hang him on a tree

When as suspended from a limb

It said, “Why did you libel me?”

Because the tree he hung upon

Happened to be that mulberry—

“A murderer of more than man

You laid the blame upon a tree!”