Poem: The Song of the Girl and the Apple Tree

For the girls I know

The Song of the Girl and the Apple Tree
For the girls I know

You wrote and sang a song for me,
A song of a girl and an apple tree.

I sat and listened patiently
To your song of a girl and an apple tree,

How she wandered in the forest, free,
When she came upon an apple tree,

And broke a branch off thoughtlessly,
You sang of the girl and the apple tree.

‘Twould miss that branch for a century,
You sang of the ache of the apple tree.

I never asked a song of thee,
Much less this song of an apple tree.

Your orchard’s trees are not like these
Which live to fruit the centuries.

When winter comes their sap will freeze
And split the limbs of your love for me.

You wrote and sang a song for me,
This song of a girl and an apple tree,

But you were to the gardener be.
Not you, but I, am apple tree.

So now I very purposefully
Snap off the twig of your love for me.

My tree will better grow for he
Who prunes and tends attentively,

And I will wait here patiently
For the song of the boy and the apple tree.