"The Apple Tree"
©1998 by Spring

You stand in the valley and in open fields.
In your nakedness I see the wear of years.
Your limbs twisted and gnarled -
sagging branches now touching ground.
The many seasons of fruit sweet to my taste.

That momentary thought...should I cut you down!

But I wait for spring and that moment when you reach
out your arms and reach skyward to draw in the sun.
The beauty of new life covers the gray knobbiness that reflects
your wisdom to know the power and beauty that only comes with springtime.

New shoots bring forth the tender green of life,
a green that only spring knows,
a color that hardens with the wind and the rain, the days and the nights.

White blossoms with pink blush......
the fine veins that radiate from the core of each bloom.
Which of you will bear the fruit that will touch my lips?

The magnificence of what I see....
white blooms that veil the harshness of branches
that reflect your many seasons,
white clouds that have settled on tree trunks,
a fleeting image that will disappear one morning.

The scent of apple blossoms that will fade when
pedals fall to lay on old fruit composting with time.

Images soon lost to the real purpose of life.
Ripe fruit to satisfy the desires within!

Yes, you have given me another year of beauty.

Maybe next year I'll cut you down.......
to be stacked and dried
and to warm me through the harshness of winter.

Blue flames, warm embers and the scent of springtime.