Friday, March 13, 2026

The Orchard










What I held out in the starry orchard:

redstarts on split bark, hollow trunks, rot holes,

aged wind, boisterous in the leaves, hollows,

rippling down verdant canopy of gnarled

branches reaching out as if days passing

in blossoms pristine and pure, grafter’s quest—

lichens’ range wrapped the woman in a dress,

while sun’s rays level themselves through her leaves,

and the nut trees sing in bright vibrato,

white corps de ballet bends in arabesque.

Apple cider is bottled William Blake,

over grassland rife with wildflower notes,

then Brahms waltzes to my inner silence—

I am as still as glass Bassenthwaite Lake.


W.E Isaacson