Young Orchard

(Fruit Trees in Bloom by Claude Monet, 1840-1926, French
Impressionist painter)

Monet is famous for his series of paintings of water lilies, poplars, haystacks, and the Rouen Cathedral. Over the years, he also painted many different images of trees in blossom, including plum, olive, apple, and lemon.

YOUNG ORCHARD

These trees came to stay.
Planted at intervals of
Thirty feet each way,

Each one stands alone
Where it is to live and die.
Still, when they are grown

To full size, these trees
Will blend their crowns, and hum with
Meditating bees.

Meanwhile, see how they
Rise against their rootedness
On a gusty day,

Nodding one and all
To one another, as they
Rise again and fall,

Swept by flutterings
So that they appear a great
Consort of sweet strings.

~ Richard Wilbur, born 1921, American poet and translator