The Pear Tree Blossometh! :)

Color Record No. 16, Side A:

This James Wright poem came up in class today:

To a Blossoming Pear Tree

By James Wright

Beautiful natural blossoms,

Pure delicate body,

You stand without trembling.

Little mist of fallen starlight,

Perfect, beyond my reach,

How I envy you.

For if you could only listen,

I would tell you something,

Something human.

An old man

Appeared to me once

In the unendurable snow.

He had a singe of white

Beard on his face.

He paused on a street in Minneapolis

And stroked my face.

Give it to me, he begged.

I'll pay you anything.

I flinched.  Both terrified,

We slunk away,

Each in his own way dodging

The cruel darts of the cold.

Beautiful natural blossoms,

How could you possibly

Worry or bother or care

About the ashamed, hopeless

Old man?  He was so near death

He was willing to take

Any love he could get,

Even at the risk

Of some mocking policeman

Or some cute young wiseacre

Smashing his dentures,

Perhaps leading him on

To a dark place and there

Kicking him in his dead groin

Just for the fun of it.

Young tree, unburdened

By anything but your beautiful natural blossoms

And dew, the dark

Blood in my body drags me

Down with my brother.