EARLIER POEMS
FIRST FRUIT
I did not pluck at all,
And I am sorry now:
The garden is not barred
But the boughs are heavy with snow,
The flake-blossoms thickly fall
And the hid roots sigh, "How long will our flowers be marred?"
Strange as a bird were dumb,
Strange as a hueless leaf.
As one deaf hungers to hear,
Or gazes without belief,
The fruit yearned "Fingers, come!"
O, shut hands, be empty another year.
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