There was an apple tree in the yard —
this would have been
forty years ago — behind,
only meadows. Drifts
of crocus in the damp grass.
I stood at that window:
late April. Spring
flowers in the neighbor’s yard.
How many times, really, did the tree
flower on my birthday,
the exact day, not
before, not after? Substitution
of the immutable
for the shifting, the evolving.
Substitution of the image
for relentless earth. What
do I know of this place,
the role of the tree for decades
taken by a bonsai, voices
rising from the tennis courts —
Fields. Smell of the tall grass, new cut.
As one expects of a lyric poet.
We look at the world once, in childhood.
The rest is memory.
(Louise Gluck)
More Poetry from Louise Gluck:
Louise Gluck Poems based on Topics: Nature, World, Spring, Memory, Literature, Childhood, Place, Birthdays, Tennis, Poets- Parousia (Louise Gluck Poem)
- Cana (Louise Gluck Poem)
- Poem (Louise Gluck Poem)
- Circe's Torment (Louise Gluck Poems)
- Castile (Louise Gluck Poem)
- The Silver Lily (Louise Gluck Poem)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: World Poems, Nature Poems, Place Poems, Spring Poems, Literature Poems, Memory Poems, Poets Poems, Childhood Poems, Birthdays Poems, Tennis PoemsBased on Keywords: lyric, drifts, relentless, crocus, immutable, evolving, expects, bonsai