Volunteer
Nobody planted her
a
bird shit out a peach pit
while
stealing holly berries
and
this maverick
poked
her head out
from
the holly bush
two
springs ago
I
had the shears ready
but
couldn’t cut
beguiled
by the deep fresh
pink
of her blossoms
riotous pink
and
so early coming
I
left her there
Last
summer I asked
the
Mexican yard man
to
take her down
but
he said he couldn’t
held
up one branch
its
leafy underbelly
heavy with pale
heavy with pale
fruit
pods
that in August
ripened their
perfume
drifting
on the air ambrosial
on the air ambrosial
the
peaches small
and
blushing
their
white fruit
her ravishing blooms
shame
the pest-weary
weeping
cherry
and the old apple
tree who
couldn’t
muster
this
year and cringes
under
a scourge of lichen
pix and poem copyright Cathy Larson Sky 03/29/2020