The Princess and The Apple Tree

Once upon a time

Princess Meera ate an apple

And turned into

A beautiful apple tree

In the middle

Of an orchard

When she didn’t come home for dinner

Everyone in the kingdom

Went out looking for her

And it was her sister Dawn

Who noticed that there was suddenly

A new tree in the middle

Of the family’s favorite orchard

‘This must be Meera,’ said Dawn,

‘She’s turned into a tree’

This seemed like

A reasonable explanation

To everyone

And so they tried to determined

What they should do

About a new princess

That was now living as a tree

Her mother wanted

To build a house

Around the tree

So that Meera would never get cold

Or be rained on

In bad weather

But Meera spoke up--

(The first time a tree

Has ever spoken

As far as we know)

--And said that trees don’t care

About such things

As rain or snow

Or staying outside all night long

Everyone was very happy

Because building a house

Around a tree

Is not something
Any of them had done

And there was a shortage

Of bricks in the kingdom

The Queen suggested

Moving the tree

Back to the kingdom

Where it could be planted

In the royal garden

Right behind the castle

But Meera did not want to be moved

Because an apple tree

Belongs in an apple orchard
But the Queen didn’t want Meera

To be outside in the orchard

All by herself

So she ordered that someone

Would always stay

With Meera

And make sure nobody disturbed her

Or picked any of her apples

Once again, Meera was angry

Because an apple tree

Is meant to have its apples picked

Otherwise why does it exist?

And apple trees

Don’t become lonely

So why did somebody

Need to sit with her all the time

Meera was worried

All the other trees in the orchard

Would think less of her

If they could think

She wasn’t sure if they did
Because she was the only

Talking apple tree

That she knew of

But Meera’s mother

Was very upset

So she went along

With her plan

To leave someone

With the kingdom’s

Newest apple tree

At all times

Dawn had the first shift

And by the time everyone else left

The orchard

It was late at night

So Dawn would be sleeping

Outside underneath her sister

All night long

Even though the two sisters

Were not that far apart in age

They had never done what many other sisters do

Which is stay up all night

Talking and laughing

But that night

With the stars above them

And with plenty of apples

For Dawn to snack on

They talk about everything

They can think of

And then things they’d never thought

To think of

Dawn never imagined

She’d have a tree as a sister

But she found

That she liked it quite a bit

Because a tree was strong

And sturdy

And would live on

Long after Dawn

And Dawn’s parents

And probably even Dawn’s children
If she ever had them

This made her happy

Because she loved the idea

Of her maybe-children

One day falling asleep

Under the leaves

Of her sister’s branches

Feeling safe

And comforted

By the sounds

Of the orchard