Tobias Tends The Apple Trees Poem by Bernard Kennedy

From Berlin, unter von linden,
thin and slight, tight cut hair
and willow wisp of sight. Tobias spade turns soil
in orchards ground and wets the base with
water. Then lifting in the apple tree,
places neatly sifting clay with booted foot,
to prepared ground, holding slight stem to balance,
and heel soil together till steady.
Manure base and flat with downside spade,
like a tennis bat, placed clay loose now solid.
Later, then, years on, apple strudel,
but now stand back and thin form views
as if two trees stem upwards,
and once more heeling in loose clay,
an orchard in preparation now.
Another angel, a guide to Tobit,
travelled. This Tobias, german,
stays and earns keep travelling,
as I think the future cider taste,
Tobias tends the apple trees.