petalplum

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spring blooming


From blossoms comes
this brown paper bag of peaches
we bought from the boy
at the bend in the road where we turned toward   
signs painted Peaches.

From laden boughs, from hands,
from sweet fellowship in the bins,
comes nectar at the roadside, succulent
peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,
comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.

O, to take what we love inside,
to carry within us an orchard, to eat
not only the skin, but the shade,
not only the sugar, but the days, to hold
the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into   
the round jubilance of peach.

There are days we live
as if death were nowhere
in the background; from joy
to joy to joy, from wing to wing,
from blossom to blossom to
impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.
                          - "From Blossoms" by Li-Young Lee


The peach blossoms seem to be bigger and more showy this year. I wonder if it's true, or if my mind is just so wonderfully excited to be seeing them again. These are the prettiest thing in our garden. The trees make me happy all year around, but when the bare Winter branches break into bud and then bloom. Oh oh. So beautiful. 
These have been flowering bit by bit slowly over the whole of Winter, due to our funny weather at the moment. One tree in the garden - in a different section - hasn't yet bloomed and is still a week or two away. Which is lovely, having the blooms staggered. Oh yes. Loving this more than I can say. 
And the white plum blossoms will bloom soon - on they are magical indeed. 

I'm loving Winter, but Spring really is on the way... or some days it feels like it's already here.