on lemon-picking

 on lemon-picking

"an educated person is someone who knows their own gifts 

and how to give them to the world."--Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer

waking to sufficiency

setting feet on the ground 

of contentment

i thank the water that comes

flowing eagerly from 

well to tap

the potatoes in my pantry still dusted

with earth

the air all around

luxurious in embrace

the warm eggs in my pocket

but how do i even begin to thank you, lemon

ripening for ten months

bending the branch like a fish on rod's line

a solitary jewel in the sun of my west-facing window?

imperceptibly changing hues

green-yellow to full gold in

time lapse love

gratitude, mist

fertilizer, a plant lightbulb 

for the long winter?

is it time?

and how to take with 

reverence and care and 

not with haste or greed

using everything

juice, pulp, peel, and 

seeds

and how to share

shall you become limoncello as christmas gifts

do you want to become simple syrup

perhaps dessert?

i wait for response

ripeness hangs in a silence

of still-life beauty rounded bright

against dull panes today

we have aged 

in the same room this year, in bitterness

of life and onset 

of sweetness to match

if i have done nothing else well

let it be said i have paid attention the entire time

enough to know growth's long patience 

waiting to reach for me until i am ready

and that picking a lemon

like anything worthy

requires effort against 

strong branches grafted to hold on

until fragrant release

grants a gift into my

hands

ls 11.19.20