Peach Tree Seasons

Peach tree seasons, time run soft
And swell in hours of sun –
Unseen to shy green,
Velvet to blush-green,
An ever-asking question
Of ripening fruit. 

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I love discovering fruit trees. They always take me by surprise; a tree that was just a tree, until it started to grow fruit. A small part of me can never quite believe the miracle.

Earlier this spring, on my walk to my second job I would pass a fenced-in yard with a few trees poking over the fence. One day I noticed small green marbles all over a previously-unremarkable tree – peaches! Or some sort of stone fruit. Each week they grew a bit more, a very old story. I developed the habit of marking time by the peaches’ growth.

I haven’t walked that way since mid-March, when the workplace closed for shelter-in-place.

Related: Peach Tree Memory

If a thousand and one terrors that seem to befall fruit trees haven’t gotten them yet – those peaches are still growing. I like to think they’re getting up to all sorts of trouble in my absence. Perhaps later today I’ll walk that way to find out. In the meantime, I have my peach-flavored tea to enjoy, and dreams of peaches changing sunshine into sugar.