Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


FRUIT by GRACE STONE COATES

First Line: SHE PARED HER FRUIT WITH A SILVER KNIFE
Last Line: THAT BOTH OF US WERE DEAD.
Subject(s): ABSENCE; LOVE AFFAIRS; SEPARATION; ISOLATION;

She pared her fruit with a silver knife
And nibbled its slices thin,
But I bit greedily into life
Till the sharp juice stung my chin.

One little fact she never knew
For a moment I had forgotten:
How the small white worms go thru and thru
The place where the heart is rotten.

My serviette furiously I flung
And tossed the core to the nappy,
Its crumbling bitterness on my tongue --
While she sat, still and happy!

But I felt her quiet face go white
As out of its calm I fled;
And knew as I wallowed into the night
That both of us were dead.



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