First Love

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you had swept back your bangs for the first time
when I saw you under the apple tree
the flower-comb in your hair
I thought you yourself were a flower too.

you stretched out your pale white hand gently
giving me an apple:
like the ripening red of the autumn fruit
my first feeling of love

my sigh, without any awareness
touched your hair
the joys of love's offerings
drinking your love…

under a tree in the apple orchard
nature's narrow road
who left this token here?
your question gave me a piercing pleasure.

© Shimazaki Toson