Here we are.

Once,
Laughing, joking,
Having fun.
And then
The absolute thunderclap—
Run into a wall
As Fate hands us
A lemon.

Yes—
Fate has handed us
Yet another lemon.

Well, you know what they say
About Fate's lemons.
'Make lemonade', right?
But it's gonna be a lot tougher
This time
'Cuz we can't seem to find
The sugar.

Seems Fate's got more lemons
Than it knows what to do with,
So it just keeps handing them out
To us.
Why'd Fate hafta grow that orchard?

I feel, now, more than ever.
Glass.
More brittle than anything.
Brittle beyond imagination.
Free falling
Out of (my or anyone else's) control

And then sometimes
I do fall apart—
And I want those salt tears to rain
All over Fate's lemon orchard.
Maybe, if we're all lucky,
It'll kill those lemons.

But, for now,
It all hangs out
As we try to add
Sugar substitute
To that stupid lemonade.

We ask, Why?
What stupid person
Gave Fate the idea
Of growing lemons
(And a whole orchard, to boot)
Instead of, maybe,
Growing plums?

Plums, I think,
Everyone likes plums,
Why didn't Fate grow some of those?

The rain falls on the roses
And browns their precious petals.
Why need it be rain?—
It might as well be lemon juice.

The thunder continues to roll in the fields.
We keep trying for that lemonade,
On the brink of giving up.

—You know,
Maybe that's why Fate hands us
All those lemons:
We have the Three in our field,
Plum, Pine, and Cherry.

Oh, there isn't an orchard of them—
But they sure do stand out
Against the field full of lemons.

And I remember why
It's not fair to cry
Of sadness only

I look out at these,
Planted by you,
And I smile again.

---

My friend moved all the way to the other side of the country recently, so this is about, and dedicated to, her. HAVE FUN KATHY! Thank you for EVERYTHING!

To explain the pine, plum, and cherry trees, and the earlier appearance of plums: there's a no drama where a samurai who has had really bad luck shows up at the daimyo's palace when called for despite his bad fortune, and is thus rewarded with fields of the trees he lost when his brothers stole his lands - pine, plum, and cherry. That's the story in a nutshell.