The last harvest 💔

Ananya Nair,

Grade 9

Ananya is a travel enthusiast who likes to read, sing, and do Bharatnatyam. She also loves to bake and write stories or poems. When not found doing any, she can likely be found burrowed in bed watching a K-drama. She hopes to have the privilege of writing pretty words for the rest of her life :)

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In my backyard, a titan stood tall,

Casting its shadow against the wall.

Every summer, the branches would bend,

With gold-heavy gifts that it leaned down to lend.

From the grass, we gathered the fallen prize,

To watch it transform before our eyes.

Chilled into sweets or simmered in space,

A tang on the tongue, a summer’s slice.

The flavor would shift with every bite,

Making our happy eyes squeeze tight.

Then came the day of the metal and roar,

A machine that pushed through the garden door.

The giant that weathered the wind and the years,

Was suddenly met with the grind of the gears.

With a heavy haul and a final sound,

They pulled the heart right out of the ground.

Now the sun hits the stones of a barren wall,

Where the mangoes used to ripen and fall.

No fruit to gather, no juice to swig—

Just the ghost of a ghost in a broken twig.