Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, APPLES FOR SALE, by LEWIS MANSFIELD KNAPP



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

APPLES FOR SALE, by                    
First Line: In youthful days I saw old orchards bloom
Last Line: I too, my friend, am polished and for sale.
Subject(s): Apples; Fruit; Language; Orchards; Words; Vocabulary


In youthful days I saw old orchards bloom,
And watched green apples turn to red and gold,
And ripening, fall beneath the heavy bough.
And now for years I've seen apples for sale,
Piled high in polished shining pyramids,
In dust and grime and flies of city streets,
Until I am in danger of forgetting
The bloom that apples have upon a tree.
Today I know how Baldwins feel on fruitstands --
One cried in pain last night on Market Street.
Flowers they say can speak, and why not apples?
One learns to understand the apple-language,
And this, I think, the shiny Baldwin said
(One loses much of course in all translations):
"Oh Maker of orchards, how can apples die,
Treeless and sunless in the stench of streets!
Oh for the murmuring leaves, the swaying bough!
The nesting bird, the vagrant bee, the sun!
The summer rain, the nipping autumn frost!
The worm, the mildew, and the slow decay,
Feeding the root of the perennial tree!
Curious ideas you say?
I too, my friend, am polished and for sale.





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