Neglect

Neglect
R. T. Smith

Is the scent of apple boughs smoking
in the woodstove what I will remember
of the Red Delicious I brought down, ashamed

that I could not convince its limbs to render fruit?
Too much neglect will do that, skew the sap's
passage, blacken leaves, dry the bark and heart.

I should have lopped the dead limbs early
and watched each branch with a goshawk's eye,
patching with medicinal pitch, offering water,

compost and mulch, but I was too enchanted
by pear saplings, flowers and the pasture,
too callow to believe that death's inevitable

for any living being unloved, untended.
What remains is this armload of applewood
now feeding the stove's smolder. Splendor

ripens a final time in the firebox, a scarlet
harvest headed, by dawn, to embers.
Two decades of shade and blossoms - tarts

and cider, bees dazzled by the pollen,
spare elegance in ice - but what goes is gone.
Smoke is all, through this lesson in winter

regret, I've been given to remember.
Smoke, and Red Delicious apples redder
than a passing cardinal's crest or cinders.


In this poem, the narrator ponders the idea of neglect, and although he wants to reap the benefits without doing the work, he is immediately able to see the consequences of neglect. In the beginning, the narrator simply tells the reader that because he neglected his apple tree, all he was left with was a single apple and the remains of the once living tree. From this, he goes on to say what he should have done, and wishes he had watched the tree carefully in order to help it to grow rather than wilt. However, he states that he was "too enchanted by pear saplings, flowers and the pasture" to worry about his measly apple tree. By this point, it is clear that the apple tree represents something much more important--possibly a person--while the pear saplings and flowers represent other aspects of life, such as work and money. During neglect, most people don't realize that this action could, in some way or another, result in death. Just as neglect resulted in the death of the tree, in life, neglecting someone could result in the death of a relationship. While he is throwing the remains of the tree into the fire, he truly ponders the situation and realizes how remorseful he is, but sees that what's done is done.
The fact that the POET uses FREE VERSES rather than a FORM POEM gives the poem an ordinary feeling, as if the reader were right there while this was happening. Furthermore, his use of SIMILE in the poem, such as when he says "Red Delicious apples redder than a passing cardinal's crest or cinders," enhances the work by giving the reader a clear picture of what the poet tries to describe. In this same quote, he uses an ALLITERATION when he says "cardinal's crest or cinders," which makes the poem much more interesting and grabbing for the reader.
Through reading this poem, one is able to see the classic idea of giving something in order to get something. Clearly, the narrator did not give much to the tree, and as a result, all the tree gave him was one apple. In the grander scheme of things, I believe the poem mainly speaks about relationships and the importance of putting in effort to keep them alive.