Apricot Letters

Your letters smelled of kitchen drawers And fruit you dried beside the door I knew your smile, but not the words You wrote before I joined this world I took the pages to a friend And heard your childhood breathe again Apricot letters, soft as skin Tell me where our days begin I can't bring your village here But I can learn to hold it near You wrote of trees behind a wall And summer dust along the hall I bought a sapling, dug it deep You watched me from the garden seat Apricot letters, soft as skin Tell me where our days begin I can't bring your village here But I can learn to hold it near The first year gave us only leaves The third, one fruit for us to share You said its name, I said it too A word grew sweeter as it grew Apricot letters, soft as skin Tell me where our days begin I can't bring your village here But I can learn to hold it near Your palm around the warm brown stone A little of the long way home