The Fruits of Life
by Manon MacNeill, Harkaway Hills College
Years 5 – 6 Performance Poetry Finalist
The plum is complicated
Deep purple, almost secretive.
Sweetness hidden beneath the skin.
Bite into a plum and the juice escapes before you can stop it
Some people are like plums, quiet until opened, then suddenly,
Full of everything they have been holding inside.
Plums teach us that life will not always taste the way we expect
Some disappointments carry hidden gifts and some difficult days leave us wiser than before.
The pomegranate teaches patience.
Its treasures are locked away behind a tough, unwelcoming door.
It is difficult to see what it can offer, but you find it is hundreds of tiny places.
Its beauty does not reveal itself to the impatient hand.
Some of life’s greatest rewards can’t be hurried: friendship, trust, understanding
And finding the person we can become.
And then there is the dragonfruit, exotic and different, wearing an armour of pink
Protecting a heart scattered with stars.
It looks like it belongs somewhere beyond this world, yet inside it is gentle.
The dragonfruit teaches us not to fear being different.
Bright agains the ordinary, covered in a skin that demands to be noticed.
We spend so much time trying to fit the shape of what others expect.
A plum, a pomegranate and a dragonfruit.
A table set before is to help us learn about ourselves and others.
Some hide our true selves, some take time to open up to others.
What is really important is discovering our individual gifts
And appreciating what others carry beneath their skin.