Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE PROUDEST FRUIT, by ELIZABETH MORROW


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE PROUDEST FRUIT, by                    
First Line: Apples are the proudest fruit
Last Line: Immortality.
Alternate Author Name(s): Cutter, Elizabeth Reeve
Subject(s): Apples; Fruit; Mythology - Classical; Persephone; Proserpine; Proserpina


Apples are the proudest fruit
Ever bent a tree,
Dreaming still of Paradise,
Heirs of mutiny:

Scarlet-coated harlequins
Who with impish fling
Lighted all the fires of Troy,
Taught how planets swing.

Ancient gods have not withstood
Their bright witchery;
With an apple Pluto won
Sad Persephone.

Golden apples, dragon-kept,
The Hesperides
Gave an island diadem
To great Hercules.

Painted flame and ashen heart
Dead Sea orchards bore,
Ghostly harvest of desire
Snaky stem to core.

Apples are the proudest fruit --
One life on a tree,
Then in children's cheeks they wear
Immortality.





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