Back in the days of Covid lockdowns, like everybody, I came to better appreciate how the smallest, simplest thing could make a big difference to a day. We even made it a point to look for things to appreciate while out walking. Those little things – a blooming bush, a sun-baking cat – were life affirming.
What could be simpler and more perfect than an apple? Humble, yet versatile – a snack, a dessert, in a salad, a condiment. While thinking about the simple apple, I stumbled upon this atmospheric poem, which put the fruit in, literally, a new light. I never thought about them this way before. And that made a little difference to today 😀.
Moonlit Apples
At the top of the house the apples are laid in rows,
And the skylight lets the moonlight in, and those
Apples are deep-sea apples of green. There goes
A cloud on the moon in the autumn night.
A mouse in the wainscot scratches, and scratches, and then
There is no sound at the top of the house of men
Or mice; and the cloud is blown, and the moon again
Dapples the apples with deep-sea light.
They are lying in rows there, under the gloomy beams;
On the sagging floor; they gather the silver streams
Out of the moon, those moonlit apples of dreams,
And quiet is the steep stair under.
In the corridors under there is nothing but sleep.
And stiller than ever on orchard boughs they keep
Tryst with the moon, and deep is the silence, deep
On moon-washed apples of wonder.
-John Drinkwater (1882-1937). Poem in the public domain.
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