Never May the Fruit Be Picked

By Edna St. Vincent Millay

Never, never may the fruit be plucked from the bough

And gathered into barrels.

He that would eat of love must eat it where it hangs.

Though the branches bend like reeds,

Though the ripe fruit splash in the grass or wrinkle on the tree,

He that would eat of love may bear away with him

Only what his belly can hold,

Nothing in the apron,

Nothing in the pockets.

Never, never may the fruit be gathered from the bough

And harvested in barrels.

The winter of love is a cellar of empty bins,
In an orchard soft with rot.

Explicit Snow – by Norman MacCaig