Outside Damascus on a Sunday
morning small hands press
ripened lemons recently
arrived from Istanbul
Years earlier there would be
no need for imports
and those lemonade stands
operated by the most beautiful
children of the world
exist only in memory
august two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
this notion about life giving you lemons
seems a bit silly
I mean
what about apples
and oranges and pears
there is orange juice
and apple juice
but with pears
it seems they’re
mostly compatible with jello
with lemons I envision
shots of tequila and table salt
even though the most popular
drink of all must be lemonade
as children we constructed a booth
and sold nature’s candy
all summer long
and when the homeless arrived
with their hands held out
we smiled and offered them
dixie cups full of our finest elixir
two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
