Two That Held Fast

The apples
  
--like love itself

golden
          delicious...

                         Another Autumn
                         you've disappeared...

the uncollected harvest
                                  bruised & rotting on the ground

But behind dusty leaf, 
          almost hidden,
a pair 
           that managed
                      to hold fast
                              to the tree
 longer than the rest,

            extracting still
                                   from their Source
                        the lingering sugar
                                       that moves in the limbs
 
--these Survivors
          may be
          the fruits of love's stamina...

golden & firm

            almost
                      unbearably
                                       sweet