Wild Cherry's Pensees

She's bent and old and toothless now

when she lifts the drainage gate and drops

water to the river below.

Only a few Springs since,

she was fresh and lithe

and followed by a boy who'd grimace

as he ate my sour fruit,

and threw stones at swallows.

Ah now, good now,

slowly now,

with my sap my intelligence rises

and I awake to bloom while the cold winds

settle down at last.

Soon the bees and wasps will come again,

a hundred light and teasing lovers all at once.

So now I'll open open relax

and I'll open my sweet white clouds

to lapis skies.