Last Mango Memories
Life and Island Times – June 12 2016
Last Mango Memories
Marlow & W’s mangos: 2016 crop (c), 2014 juice (l) & harvest (r)
In the absence of the Two Sister’s shade canopy this year, Marlow’s mango crop this year is gargantuan. Branches on the mango tree in their side yard are so heavy with ripening fruit that they are bending straight down.
This year’s crop is late. The past three years, they began to fully ripen by the end of the third week of May. At the end of the second week of June, they are still dark green. Last night in the evening air, the air was thick with the perfume juice from ripening fruit on the upper branches. It smelled divine.
How we love the sweet, spherical summer fruit
Orange and oval shaped, dangling from trees to suit
W says their tree now offers bounty galore
Come out and get them, we live by the shore
Five minutes later, a half-filled box of goodies
Do we have enough to share with our hoodies
Anticipation of smiles and neighbors glee
This wondrous surprise, I can’t wait for them to see
They are patiently awaiting them, since the June summer sun is beating down on them as if it were late August. Temperatures are in the 90s almost every day. Summer is always near when there are mango cocktails and mango ice cream to be made and mango juice for breakfast.
Marlow dwells on an island, fishing the web
And drinking mango cocktails each day
He’s writing his memoirs before his mind loses its edge
Doesn’t care what most people say
Through sixty-seven years of slow motion
If he likes you he’ll smile then he’ll say
Sport, some of it’s magic, some of it’s tragic
But he had a good life all the way
He rolled with the punches
Finally learned to trust his hunches
Makin’ the best of whatever came his way
Forgot his blind ambition
Learned to trust his intuition
Headed straight ahead come what may
He’s growing older but not up
His metabolic rate is pleasantly stuck
Lets the winds of time blow over his head
He’d rather die while he’s living than live while he’s dead
He’s just an old dog in the corner recalling his youth
Telling stories and sharing the evenings at the end of it all
Every tropical backwater has guys like these
Don’t want to lose his life, just finish it with a breeze
Marlow’s Mango Cocktail
1.5 cups mango diced
Pint glass filled with ice
2 ounces coconut rum
Tsp fresh lime juice, if desired
Blend the mango, rum, lime juice in a blender until smooth
Pour into pint glass
Top with tonic water
Stir & Serve
Copyright © 2016 From My Isle Seat
