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.