Apples

by Donal Mahoney

One thing
we all have
in common is
we're ripening
for the harvest.

Donald Trump
and Pee-wee Herman,
Bill Gates
and Eliot Spitzer,
Warren Buffett
and Anthony Weiner

are different
in many respects
but like the rest of us,
they, too, are ripening
for the harvest.

They hang with us
from the same branch,
apples, big and small,
ripening in summer,
withering in fall,
waiting for winter
to conduct its harvest.

Some of us hang
from that branch
and wonder
what in the name
of God is next.
Others just hang.
They appear
not to care.