Feed me on apple blossoms
for I've been gone too long. The gardens
have been given up to grass. The stones
where our cats and dogs lie have been dug up
the bones have been gnawed by neighborhood dogs.

Bring me baskets of cherries,
big, red and full of bitterness. Feed me
bites of pink honeysuckle
and summertime mulberries.

Give me back the past
for time is a thief and
childhood is fleeting.