A Later Volupté

Itinerant, expectant, smiling
farmer’s market vendors
are hauling in new piles of fruit:
arrayed in all their splendors,

peaches blush appealingly,
so does each nectarine –
their brilliant yellows, pinks
and reds attract you by their sheen.

Nearer, though, the farmers’ grins
appear a touch abashed –
as if they nervously suspect
your dreams will soon be dashed:

nothing to complain of in
the color or the form
of every fat bright pretty globe
in bins – fresh-plucked, tree-warm –

but pick one up and oh! you’ll find
you’re quickly on your guard –
each pretty peach and nectarine’s
unyielding: baseball-hard.

July is gorgeous now: she seems
as if she holds all prizes:
but she is covering the truth
that ripeness slowly rises –

lessons of persistence
take some time: add to allure –
fruit, like lovers, gently
sweeten life as they mature:

pretty as they are right now,
they’re only in their teens:
praise a later volupté
in peaches, nectarines.

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