The Lemon Tree

The Lemon Tree

by Katina Mitses

written for the 2012 Invitational ELL Summer Institute

There, silently, stands Yia yia’s lemon tree,

Alone, forgotten, and unattended.

Lemons dangle solemnly,

Lime green in color now, soon to transform into their fluorescent yellow.

Yia yia’s lemon—I will never erase it from my memory,

Its sweet perfume,

Its refreshing spray,

Its delightful taste,

Its divine nature I once joyfully beheld.

Yia yia was alive when I first tasted that heavenly lemon.

To this day, I still savor the taste of that magnificent lemon.

I yearn to taste again that sublime creation of the Gods.

Lemon, citrus of the glistening blue seas of the Aegean islands,

I adore you.

I recently returned to Yia yia’s garden and groves,

I beheld and marveled at that timeless, lonely lemon tree,

I promised to myself to never pick one of those lemons.

Yia yia’s solitary lemon tree, keeper of time, guardian of the ages,

Quietly enduring, while I sit here helplessly, thousands of miles away.

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