Iris Birtwhistle
The Ballad of Apple Jane
This piteous apparition
A-chatter in the lane
Was once the village lovely
That they called Apple Jane.
Her pumpkin cheeks were riper
Than any fruit tree’s pride,
And many a dreamy youth
Looked to a mellow bride.
Her mind now roams unfettered,
It soars among the birds;
And only doe-eyed children
Can translate broken words.
She gathers slender tendrils
To lattice falling hair;
As colder bind the seasons
Numbed limbs dance unaware.
The Summer finds her muffled
In folds of scarecrow coat,
Through Winter she runs rawfoot
With web-wisps at her throat.
She scours the stream for pennies
Among the waters cold,
And counts the mallow petals
As misers check their gold.
She is the patient mid-wife
At every wild thing’s birth;
Her kingdoms are unnumbered,
Her larder is the earth.
She scorns a hovel-shelter
And sleeps against the sky.
She neither fears the living
Nor is afraid to die.
Page(s) 158-159
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