I saw the archangels in my apple-tree last night,
I saw them like great birds in the starlight-
Purple and burning blue, crimson and shining white.
And each to each they tossed an apple to and fro,
And once I heard their laughter gay and low;
And yet I felt no wonder that it should be so.
But when the apple came one time to Michael's lap
I heard him say: “The mysteries that enwrap
The earth and fill the heavens can be read here, mayhap.”
Then Gabriel spoke: “I praise the deed, the hidden thing.”
“The beauty of the blossom of the spring
I praise,” cried Raphael. Uriel: “The wise leaves I sing.”
And Michael: “I will praise the fruit, perfected, round,
Full of the love of God, herein being bound
His mercies gathered from the sun and rain and ground.”
So sang they till a small wind through the branches stirred,
And spoke of coming dawn; and at its word
Each fled away to heaven, winged like a bird.
The Apple-tree
Nancy Campbell
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Poem topics: away, beauty, god, heaven, laughter, night, purple, rain, spring, sun, time, tree, wind, bird, hidden, blue, earth, white, wise, fruit, Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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