The Apple Trees

RDP Wednesday: DECOR

Andrew Wyeth

I followed the shadow

shaped like a woman

who was dragging her broken leg behind her

she was pushed down the road by the last rays of a cold red sun

floating like a leaf,

soundless, brittle, where was she going I wondered.

 

I followed the shadow

shaped like a woman

who was dragging her broken leg behind her

to an empty house with dusty windows

shaded by the skeletons of apple trees

they were never alive, I do not wonder

 

I followed the shadow

shaped like a woman

dragging her broken leg behind her

into a room with bare plaster walls

nothing alive in it’s walls, the attic is empty

the kitchen is as dead as the basement

 

We are alone

the shadow of the woman with the broken leg

and me, all that’s left of she could have been

two lonely shades, decorating the walls

of an empty room in an empty house

shaded by dead apple trees.