Another Romance

…and so the orchard burned.
Those same hallowed groves, which then sated my lust,
Now churned up in swift, deft curls of
Dull, gray ash spouting from the dying embers.
The pungent memory of the citrus clung to the air.
The burning glow of the exposed roots, ablaze,
Crackling and coiling, replaced the subtle, blank
Horizon which had failed to penetrate my vision.
I wallowed among the furrows,
As the wind slowly took them from me,
Flattening the land once more.
I salted the earth. Nothing would grow again.
Walking across the expanse, kicking up dust from my heels,
A brief, green stem and a lone infant leaf caught my eye,
Jutting from the dehydrated land.
I attempted to tear the invading weed from its roots.
I could not summon the strength to dispatch my foe.
Each day, as I returned to this struggle,
My enemy had advanced further towards the sky,
While digging its talons deeper into the soil.
I brought tools, used flames and employed machinery,
But could not quell the growth of the intruder.
The mast of the great beast doubled its diameter daily,
As my will to resist diminished at the same rate.
As the tree grew up and out it lifted the earth like a sheet,
Creating a steep incline.
I stood at the base when the first fruit fell.
At first I collected the fallen spawn,
Initially into barrels and then, ultimately, into the silo,
But, soon, could not continue under the strain of the accumulation.
Eventually, I relented, slowly tasting the nectar of the sweet fruits.
Hit violently with the strange fructose and flavour,
I instantly recognized the renewal of my lust.
I ran to the silo, retrieving the stored disciples,
Immediately sprinkling the field with the seeds of my passion.
Now I peer upwards, standing below a great acreage of mangroves,
Savouring each taste of my fruit, each sample of my lust.