08 April 2013

I Must Walk Through the Orchard



I must walk through the orchard every day.
The blooms are beginning to come, and lest I miss any of them, I must walk through the orchard every day.
At least one time, around the back, and back up around the front.



Nearly a thousand trees to peruse, and at least that many blossoms per tree.
I dare not miss e'en one this year, for this year is all I have.
I have it now, so now I must enjoy them, and I must not miss a thing.



Their branches bent and pruned, they still put forth a show.
While time may take a funny shape, the fruit will still be sweet.
I have not known these trees for long, but to be acquainted now, today, is all I ask.


It's just one row a-blooming now, with two or three beside the row at the bottom.
I overlook the hill as whole, and wonder how they'll look--
All those trees dressed in their whites and pinks, when bees come buzzing 'round.


All the looking is not lost, for among the beauty I learn, and take a precious jewel to my mind:
It's how to focus close, on just the bloom I wish, and snap a photo with my phone.
And with this little piece of wisdom in my pocket, I can take you walking with me any day you wish.


I take a portrait more or two, and realize with delight, I am next my own back yard, 
branches reaching  to the other side, where friends bloom on my side just like they do on orchard side.
If I hadn't walked through the orchard today, determined beauty-gleaner, I'd have missed it in my yard.


I may not see a fruit come from bloom to ripe.
I may not smell the freshness or take the glowing bounty for purchase into my kitchen.
But still I will not miss the flower blooming today.


I do not cut or prune or bring bouquets to my table.
I do not pluck the beauty, and ruin the fruit I will not get to see.
But I capture them for memory's sake, grateful I have them for even one spring.


I'm through counting hyacinths poking out of the ground.
As I walk back to the house, I simply breathe deeply of now, their scent wafting in the breeze.
I snap their photo, get in close, marvel at the many shades of pink in one tiny bloom.


I touch them, and promise to take them with me if I should have to go,
and if in the taking I will not take their lives.
For the only thing worse than leaving them behind, I've decided, is trying to take them, and having them die.


I glance through the newly cleared path to the orchard.
I must take it every day, duck through the vines, and emerge,
ready for blooms and beauty and gleaning, as closely as I can watching 
while time and temperatures bring a glow that I must not leave without seeing.

4 comments:

  1. Such beauty! I can almost smell them through your pictures!

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  2. Beautiful!! Your words describe my feelings towards flowers so precisely that it's eerie to read! May I join you one of these days so you can introduce me to the orchard? It'll have to be in the (maybe late, better for photos) afternoon...

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  3. Oh, Honey... Good job, drinking in the beauty! Can't wait to go with you... Three more weeks!!

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  4. You will ALWAYS have beauty around you. God loves to place it in the lives of those who appreciate it!

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Greetings, fellow climbers! Leave your marks on the steps--I'll be delighted to hear from you.