Summer Poems 3

More of Tasha's Photos and Summer Poems

The Apple Tree

The bark of the old tree is dappled with lichen and shade
Making a pattern like runes, like pebbles strewn for good or ill.
The leaves layer against the blue sky, the white clouds,
Dappling them with green, gathering summer into a memory.

Thirsty to grow, the small green apples drink the light,
Yearning to swell to hold the seed of the apples
That will fall to the ground, to rot or be pressed into cider.
The apples will slake thirst, recalling the Summer that was,
The Fall that is in their sweet-sour tang,
Nourishing us for the Winter that is to be.

I swing in the hammock beneath the apple tree
In this moment marked for me by insect sounds,
Music to accompany a tender breeze. All time is one:
The Spring blossoms hang as green globes glistening.

Layers In Time

My feet pedal, I close my eyes and ride
Past the old stone walls that line the dirt road of Boardman Ave.
The wheels of my imagination glide swiftly, smoothly,
Over the stones and ruts, the small stones scrunching
Beneath the turning rubber. Early summer dapples the roadside
The new young leaves reach eagerly for the sunlight;
Making up for Winter's fast they radiate luscious green.
In my memory free of my adult responsibilties,
I again ride a childhood day of long ago.
The magical years telescope and the landscape changes
Houses spring up where barns and outbuildings stood,
Farms disappear, replaced by homes.
Still the dappled summer day hovers, eternally present,
Regardless of the calendar. I ride my long ago today.