Under the Lemon Trees
by Arielle Roose, Tintern Grammar
Years 9 – 10 Ekphrastic Poetry Finalist
‘Under the Lemon Trees’ by Claude Monet (1884)
Under the lemon trees, I lay
The tangy smell of citrus in the air.
The leaves sway with the wind,
A gentle breeze blowing across my face, through my hair.
Clouds float through the sky, taking any form, endless shapes and possibilities.
I should know peace—and yet, it doesn’t come.
Why?
Why does nostalgia overpower the gentleness?
Perhaps I am the lemon tree.
Shining, glorious, entrancing on the outside, yet sour within.
Interesting, peculiar, nature’s masterpiece, yet, if you get too close, the sharp thorns will embrace you instead.
You take, take, take from me, and yet, what do I get in return?
No longer a question,
I am the lemon tree.