The Guava Parable Poem by RIC BASTASA

i do not know if you realize
what is happening between us

it could be sad for me but
let me try to explain it

there was a child climbing a guava
tree and got all the ripe ones put them
in a basket but never ate one
he gave each stranger
the fruit of his adventure
about what he stole from his childhood
to the old ones
who never had one yet
for dessert
despite the passage of all those
years

we parted and then we meet again

i watch you climb the guava tree again
i could not climb it myself anymore
i have become too old for it
and i am about to give up what dream is there

i could have told you, yes, i was once a child
who had the fruits too
but i never really wanted one
and i am asking myself what trait is this
which squanders and yet knows not the reason
why

i have given much
why i do not desire what i got
why i have this content of seeing the tree die
and why i am happier now
without any guava at all.