Freya Manfred: "Green Pear Tree in September"

On a hill overlooking the Rock River
my father's pear tree shimmers,
in perfect peace,
covered with hundreds of ripe pears
with pert tops, plump bottoms,
and long curved leaves.
Until the green-haloed tree
rose up and sang hello,
I had forgotten...
He planted it twelve years ago,
when he was seventy-three,
so that in September
he could stroll down
with the sound of the crickets
rising and falling around him,
and stand, naked to the waist,
slightly bent, sucking juice
from a ripe pear.

"Green Pear Tree in September" by Freya Manfred, from My Only Home. © Red Dragonfly Press, 2003.

Image credit: "PearTree," ink on paper, by Amy Giacomelli (originally color).