Chapter 1

I grew on a branch where the sunlight fell,

Among the blossoms, I knew so well.

l dreamed of hands that would reach up high,

Of being someone's beneath the sky.

I watched them pick the prettiest ones,

The brightest reds, the golden suns.

I painted my cheeks in a crimson hue,

Hoping that someone would want me too.

But seasons changed, and the branches grew bare,

And nobody noticed that I was still there.

The wind whispered softly, "your time has passed."

And I wondered how something so sweet could last.

I fell to the ground, with a silent sound,

And lay in the dirt, where the roots reached down.

The world walked me over, day after day,

As if I never mattered anyway.

My skin grew wrinkled, my colors grew dim,

The sweetness inside slowly faded within.

And all that I wanted, through every goodbye,

Was one pair of hands that would give me a try.

But here is the truth, that the branches all knew,

A truth that the world never taught me was true.

An apple's worth isn't measured by red,

Or by how many admire it instead.

And just because nobody chooses your name,

Doesn't mean you were born without value or flame.

For deep in earth, where nobody sees,

A fallen apple gives life to the seeds.

And what looked like an ending, forgotten and small,

Becomes something new when the spring rains fall.

So perhaps I was never meant to be,

The Apple displayed for the whole world to see.

Perhaps my purpose was something far greater,

To nourish the soil for someone else's later.

And if you should find me, all broken and brown,

Don't call me a failure for falling down.

For even the fruit that the world leaves behind,

Can leave something beautiful growing in time.

The Apple Nobody Chose