May Sarton's "Fruit of Loneliness"

Poem: "Fruit of Loneliness" by May Sarton, from Encounter in April. © Houghton Mifflin, 1937. Reprinted with permission. (buy now) Thank you Garrison Keillor and Writer's Almanac.

Fruit of Loneliness

Now for a little I have fed on loneliness
As on some strange fruit from a frost-touched vine—
Persimmon in its yellow comeliness,
Of pomegranate-juice color of wine,
The pucker-mouth crab apple, or late plum—
On fruit of loneliness have I been fed.
But now after short absence I am come
Back from felicity to the wine and bread.
For, being mortal, this luxurious heart
Would starve for you, my dear, I must admit,
If it were held another hour apart
From that food which alone can comfort it—
I am come home to you, for at the end
I find I cannot live without you, friend.

(1930)