2006 Third Prize

DAN LI

A HEAP OF FRUITS

I find in my refrigerator fruits
(Bananas, apples, oranges, and such)
Deriving their decay from divers roots
Some almost rotten, others not so much.
A kiwi smiles with sour vanity
Alongside cherries, strong and sweet in taste.
A watermelon, source of sanity,
Rolls rashly to the floor with awkward haste.
But kiwi’s vitamins do not draw me,
Sweet cherries may until tomorrow wait,
That melon’s for some hotter day to be,
It’s those bananas I can’t eat too late.
       Some things can’t wait, for else they’d surely rot,
       All else must bide, if they persist or not.