CHI 103 ORL 105
The Loquat (or Japanese Plum) is a hearty, cold-tolerant, fruit-producing evergreen tree native to Texas
There is a loquat tree in my front yard.
It produced fruit--
Sweet tiny yellow plums--
For most of the first year
I lived here.
Making summer tolerable.
The sweet sticky-fingered finish-line
To every race home.
And then, suddenly,
It stopped.
Hasn't made fruit in three
Drought-filled
Years.
It’s flowered a few times.
A whisper--
Reminding me
Of something.
Far away.
Capable of so much more
Than casting this shadow--
Throwing this shade.
But then…
Nothing.
Pedals drop
Leaving an empty nub--
A broken promise.
Anger turned to
Grief to
Acceptance (however that goes)
Until I was grateful for
The memory of the fruit--
A quiet ghost--
and the flower, itself.
But this has been a rainy spring
On the tail-end
Of a long
Long drought.
And somehow,
Everything is different.
This time--
A memory returning--
Hard and green and patient,
Fruit.
I can almost taste it.
It produced fruit--
Sweet tiny yellow plums--
For most of the first year
I lived here.
Making summer tolerable.
The sweet sticky-fingered finish-line
To every race home.
And then, suddenly,
It stopped.
Hasn't made fruit in three
Drought-filled
Years.
It’s flowered a few times.
A whisper--
Reminding me
Of something.
Far away.
Capable of so much more
Than casting this shadow--
Throwing this shade.
But then…
Nothing.
Pedals drop
Leaving an empty nub--
A broken promise.
Anger turned to
Grief to
Acceptance (however that goes)
Until I was grateful for
The memory of the fruit--
A quiet ghost--
and the flower, itself.
But this has been a rainy spring
On the tail-end
Of a long
Long drought.
And somehow,
Everything is different.
This time--
A memory returning--
Hard and green and patient,
Fruit.
I can almost taste it.