Just like the Lemon tree



Because the lemon tree grows tall
but bears no fruit, my father
thinks it needs more sun.

So he cuts down everything
around it: the avocado the horsetail
whose taller trunks, larger leaves
catch much of the light.

Strips the thick branches

of their leaves thinking
this will give him what he needs.

And already, we live in a place
where more sun
hits the grass,
more rain covers it.

And where prospect holds
its sharpest scythe,
it’s a blind wager
on a tree that weighs
heaviest on my father
who lifts a dull dead trunk
to the light
for his son to see.

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Submitted on May 01, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

31 sec read
1

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAB CXXD X CX XBXX XXAXAXDX
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 533
Words 104
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 3, 4, 1, 2, 4, 8

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