And Honey

As in Land of, or half 
the name my people gave this
place when they imagined 

how it would feel to arrive 
at a destination different from  
one ordained at birth—

It's easy to admire those who have no 
difficulty securing passage, easing 
into a tongue practiced in schools 

with toilets and running water. It's easy
to shame those who believed the lies, who sold 
the family farm, the water buffalo, the agate 

beads and heirloom jars. Those who traded 
two seasons for four, one leafed in russet and
gold as vegetation entered into a long quietus

they came to understand didn't necessarily mean
death. Apples redden and fall in a hundred orchards,
and bees propel themselves into a riot of flowers. 

All that must be gathered is nearly level with 
the earth, and requires a bending. All I'm saying 
is some don't need to think twice, dipping the spoon 

into the sweet. Some walk the rows long after sun- 
down, or lower the netting over their faces before
counting the jars and hefting crates onto trucks.