An Old Apple TreeEvery April I am beset by the same concernthat spring might not occur this year. The landscape looks dull, with hills, sky and forest forming a single gray color, like the light tint an artist paints on a canvas before the masterwork. My spirit ebbs, as it did during an April snowfall when I first came to Maine 15 years ago. “Just wait,” a neighbor counseled.“Youll wake up one morning and spring will just be here.”And look, on May 3 that year, I awoke to a green so startling as to be almost electric, as if spring were simply a matter of flipping a switch. Hills, sky and forest revealed their purples, blues and greens. Leaves had unfurled, goldfinches had arrived at the feeder and daffodils were fighting their way towards heaven.Then there was the old apple tree. It sits on an undeveloped land in my neighborhood. It belongs to no one and therefore to everyone. The trees dark, twisted branches sprawl in unpruned abandon. Each spring it blossoms so freely that the air fills with the fragrance of apple. When I drive by with my windows rolled down, it gives me the feeling of moving in another world, like a kid on a water slide.Until last year, I thought I was the only one aware of this tree. And then one day, in a fit of spring madness, I set out with a pruner and lopped off a few errant branches. No sooner had I arrived under the tree than neighbors opened their windows and stepped onto their porches. These were people I barely knew and seldom spoke to, but it was as if I had come unbidden into their personal gardens.My mobile home neighbor was the first to speak.“ Youre not going to cut it down, are you?” she asked anxiously. Another neighbor winced as I cut off a branch.“Dont kill it, now,”he cautioned.Soon half the neighborhood had joined me under the apple tree. It struck me that I had lived there for five years and only now was learning these peoples names, what they did for a living and how they passed the winter. It was as if the old apple tree was gathering us under its branches for the dual purpose of acquaintanceship and shared wonder. I couldnt help recalling Robert Frosts words:The trees that have it in their pent-up budsTo darken nature and be summer woodsOne thaw led to another. Just the other day I saw one of my neighbors at the local store. He said how this recent winter had been especially long and complained not having seen or spoken to anyone in our neighborhood. And then, he looked at me and said,“We need to prune that apple tree again.”一棵老苹果树每年的四月份，我都会被同样的担心所困扰，那就是这一年不会有春天了。大地好像被遗弃了，山峦，天空以及森林混成灰蒙蒙的一片，就好像画家成名作品前画在帆布上的画被水泼过一样。我的心情像15年前在四月下雪的时候第一次来到缅因州一样低落。“等等看吧”，一位邻居劝我道，“你会在一个早晨醒来的时候发现春天来了的。”就在那年的5月3号我醒来的时候看到满眼的让人吃惊的绿，绿得那样惊心动魄，好像春天的到来就如同扭转一下开关那样简单。山峦，天空，森林各自呈现其斑斓的色彩，紫色，蓝色，绿色混成一片。树叶儿展开了笑脸，金翅鸟儿到处觅食，水仙花儿更是争相向天空吐露芬芳。我家邻近的一块荒地上有一棵老苹果树。这棵树不属于任何个人，因此它就是大家共同享有的了。果树黑而弯曲的枝干伸得到处都是，从来没有人修剪过。但每年春天，苹果花儿都开得极为茂盛，甚至空气中都渗透着苹果的香味儿。当我摇下车窗开车的时候，它给我的感觉是在另一个物体上移动，好像一个孩子在滑水玩。直到去年我都以为我是唯一一个关心这棵树的人。一个春意盎然的天气里，我带着修剪工具想要把果树多余的树枝修剪一下。但当我一站在树下的时候，我的那些邻居就纷纷打开窗户，站到走廊下面看着我。我几乎没有一个认识的，并且很少同他们说过话。可是，好像我成了他们私人花园的不速之客。我的一位住在活动房中的邻居先开口了：“你不是要砍掉它吧？”另一位邻居则看到我剪掉一根树枝就心疼地跟什么似的。“不要砍了！”他警告我说。很快，附近几乎一半的人都跑来和我一起站到了树阴底下。让人吃惊的是，我在这儿住了5年了，却只是现在才知道他们叫什么，何以为生，以及他们是如何过冬的。好像这棵老苹果树是为了让我们彼此认识和共享美妙景色的双重目的才把我们召集它的树干下的。这时，我不禁想起罗伯特.弗罗斯特的诗句：春树禁闭的嫩芽中藏着碧绿即将长成郁郁夏木那次融洽的交流开了个好头。就在前几天，我在附近的店里看见一个邻居。他抱怨去年的冬天太漫长，感叹许久没有看见邻居们，也不能跟他们说说话。然后，又想了一下，他看着我说：“我们需要再给那棵苹果树修修枝了。”.- 2 -