An Almond Tree That Gave Shade

...As I remember, Mother, we had in the garden an almond tree... The sparrows used to take shelter in it, in heat and in cold.

And it bore my name and my brothers' names... we carved our names into its ribs. So where is it, Mother?...

— It grew very old, my darling, and the storm broke it...

Your father planted it before the sea took him. He said:

Eat of it in my name, and remember me...

— And it will never blossom again, Mother, in the garden of our house, the way it used to. And the sparrows of the beloved house will never shelter in it again? Where do those sparrows go, Mother... in the days of heat and cold... now that the beloved almond tree is broken?

And Mother... I remember, among the things I remember, that we had a green arbor... with red clusters in it... and above it a moon that seemed to be ours alone in the whole village...

We would eat of the clusters... and live with the moon...

But the moon is not here, Mother... nor the red vine...

— It withered, light of my eyes... it withered. A worm gnawed its roots, and it died. And we built this loft up against the face of the moon; so he is above the loft, and we do not see him.

— Did the moon die, Mother, with the arbor?

— No, he did not die; but he is no longer ours alone in the village...