I have re-read this poem by Li-Young Lee nearly every day the past week, and find myself idling in this couplet in particular:
O, to take what we love inside,
to carry within us an orchard
The poem makes me think about the way we are never absorbing, or feeling, one thing. A single peach carries with it the wondrousness of fruit transformed from seed, the sun and shade of many days, the labor of field workers, the roadside marketing of a peach stand, and our happenstance meeting of it. Not to mention, of course, the wildflower idiosyncrasies and imaginations of our internal worlds. The way a peach might carry with it “the familiar dust of summer” — or the prismatic memory of a mother who adored the fruit, or the time you drove those dirt roads of Charlottesville that summer. Our lives becomes mosaics of the people, and places, we love.
I am comforted by the image of carrying orchards inside: how finite time is, but how wide our capacity to hold and love and draw in while we are here. How I might find myself donating the too-small shoes of my toddler son, but the memory of his feet padding around Glen Echo, and up the driveway of our home in Bethesda, and down the hallways with Tilly at his heels, will stay. How a peach is never just a peach, but the pinpoint access into a trove of memory, and reference, and the rhythms of the entire natural world.
And then the final stanza —
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.
Wow! Carpe diem. Let’s find a day where death is nowhere in the background and we are instead transfixed by the joy of a peach, a wing, a single blossom — ciphers enclosing the unfolding universe.
Post-Scripts.
+Another poem I love, on parenting. It of course hits differently this re-read: “Show them how to cry
when pets and people die. // Show them the infinite pleasure in the touch of a hand. // And make the ordinary come alive for them.” Amen.
Shopping Break.
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+This pretty slip dress is in my cart.
+Currently writing this while wearing this embroidered white top. I feel like spring incarnate!
+Three other pretty spring tops, these under $130 apiece: floral, striped, abstract floral.
+Sneaker restocks! A) Sambas in a new spring colorway, with a wider gum cupsole — what do you think of it? I have to say my Sambas are my most-worn casual sneaker. They are so comfortable! B) NB 9060s.
+Beginning to collect items for the children’s Easter baskets. I ordered these hatching rainbow eggs — these types of dissolving experiments are a big hit with my children. For Valentine’s Day, my son gave out Valentines with dissolving dino eggs — similar to these! — and they were well-received! (Also nice to have a non-sugar treat.). And, these tokens we had from last year will be reused this year! We put them in the Easter eggs buried around the house.
+My mother wore this dress to my sister’s wedding two years ago and stunned in it. Now out in a pretty blue pattern. IDEAL mother of the bride dress.
+These embroidered shams ($15!) remind me a lot of my Serena and Lily set.
+Reformation’s latest linen-focused collection is gorgeous. I love this simple mini.
+Speaking of linen, these bustier-style linen maxis from Sir available in brown, red, or floral have captured my imagination for a saucy summer date.
+Love this belted denim over-shirt. Feeling denim everything right now – coats, shoes, shirts. See my favorites here.
+The best Amazon sleeping pillows! We have these in most of the bedrooms in our house.