You might ask yourself

as the bitter and the sweet fill your breath.

Well, first, you’ll have to deceive a seed

to make it grow to something that wasn’t it

cut leaves, grow two branches

that’s all you’ll need to make up for past disasters

that made the coast weather uncertain

and the plagues of miners, scales, and mites stronger.

All that work to fulfill a demand

Accidentally proving genetics a scam:

A tree born with an orange trunk

Became a lime, ‘cause it had to.

What if it didn’t? How could it know? What could have been? Would an orange have grown?

Or from the start, was up to fate,

Did it have to follow that path to please everyone else?

Originalmente publicado en Fulminare Review, una revista online, aún disponible en la web, en Enero del 2023