Sally Carr
A Gift of Fruit
The old man brings us greengages
and ripe apricots before watering
his rows of tomatoes, the wet dust
newly fragrant where it was baked
and had panned to bowls at the bases
of oleander and hibiscus.
He smiles, his face tanned like the hills.
Says there’ll be another day of wind.
Always three days. Then, like Virgil,
he moves among figs and olives,
checks his sprawling zucchini, a back
bending again to its ancient love.
Behind the shutters afternoon light
bars the tiled floor and wide bed;
the heat allowing sweet nakedness.
Now we’re Roman too: with time to taste.
Outside the hose plays coolly
over swelling aubergines and melons.
Page(s) 46
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