THE OLD TREE HAD BEEN STANDING
BY THE OVER-GROWN ORCHARD FENCE,
TIME HAD BEEN MOVING ON FOR YEARS
ITS MEMORY WAS GETTING A LITTLE FADED AND DENSE.

IT HAD STOOD THERE THROUGH COUNTLESS WINTERS
IT WAS A LOVELY SIGHT TO SEE,
BEAUTIFUL PINK AND WHITE FLOWERS
WAS VISITED BY LOTS AND LOTS OF HONEY BEES.

THE PEDALS WOULD BEGIN TO FALL
AMONG THE ROOTS ON THE DUSTY GROUND,
LITTLE PEDALS THAT ONCE MADE A LOVELY BOUQUET
NOW LAY IN HEAPS SCATTERED ALL AROUND.

THEN SUMMER ARRIVED HOT AND SUNNY
GOLDEN YELLOW APPLES WERE BEGINNING TO GROW,
PEEKING OUT FROM LARGE GREEN LEAVES
THEIR BEAUTY WAS BEGINNING TO SHOW.

NEXT CAME FALL OF THE YEAR
EVERY BRANCH WAS LOADED AND BENT,
THE FRUIT WAS BEING PICKED IN WOVEN BASKETS
OFF TO THE MARKET THEY WERE SENT.

SOME OF THE APPLES WERE EATEN
SOME WERE MADE INTO JELLY OR APPLE PIE,
SOME WENT INTO FRUIT JARS BECAME APPLE BUTTER
HOW GOOD THEY DID TASTE - MY MY !

SOON WINTER WOULD ARRIVE AGAIN
THE SNOW WOULD ARRIVE, BEGINNING ANOTHER SEASON,
TO STAND THERE YEAR AFTER YEAR
THE OLD TREE NOW KNEW THERE WAS A REASON.

PERHAPS IT WOULD JUST TAKE A NAP
WAIT OUT THE SLEET AND RAIN,
FOR ONCE AGAIN IT WOULD BE SUNNY DAYS
AND PINK BLOSSOMS AND LOVELY SPRING.


Written...........August 24, 2008
I wrote this poem for a 35 year old apple tree I have. It has lots of yellow
apples in June. The winds have gotten it bent over, but it hangs on and blooms
every spring. The birds sing, the squirrels sit on its many branches. I have sat many summers in the shade this tree has made.


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