Gather
Some springs, apples bloom too soon. The trees have grown here for a hundred years, and are still quick to trust that the frost has finished. Some springs, pink petals turn black. Those summers, the orchards are empty and quiet. No reason for the bees to come. Other summers, red apples beat hearty in the trees, golden apples glow in sheer skin. Their weight breaks branches, the ground rolls with apples, and you fall in fruit. You could say, I have been foolish. You could say, I have been fooled. You could say, Some years, there are apples.
Credit
From The Always Broken Plates of Mountains by Rose McLarney. Copyright © 2012 by Rose McLarney. Reprinted with permission of Four Way Books. All rights reserved.
Date Published
01/01/2012