Autumn Orchards By Charles V. Ford
1 I remember lines of bare still trees on flat sandy ground.
There’s a sense of warmth when my thoughts wonder back to these orchards of my youth.
I delighted in the neatness of my father’s farm.
I loved the rich, dark nights when only the starlight reflected off the branches.
5 There was a perfect hush and reverence amongst the solid trunks that spanned these fields.
I walked in secret on these long, lone walks, and I walked without purpose or destination.
Loyal animals accompanied me on these excursions through the groves.
There were fast, powerful dogs, and a rainbow of funny feline hunters and loafers.
There was a lost pig and even a turkey that joined the parade for a time.
10 I listened and learned to return the gentle call of the turtle dove.
The big rigs rattled and whooshed by on the highway.
My tread was light and silent in the forgiving sand
I loved the warm summer nights when onion and garlic fields perfumed the night air.
The smell of burning almond brush in autumn will forever be a comfort and solace to me.
15 Each season’s breath was a multisensory thrill of moist, rich air.
The orchards captured my imagination and calmed and soothed me.
Old and gray now, but still I’ll steal off by myself into a neighbor’s neat and tidy orchard.
And the trim trees still listen to my ramblings and respond only with silhouettes against a silent moon.
Which line from the poem BEST suggests that the speaker viewed the walks as relaxing?
A.
“I remember lines of bare still trees on flat sandy ground.”
B.
“The orchards captured my imagination and calmed and soothed me.”
C.
“There was a lost pig and even a turkey that joined the parade for a time.”
D.
“Old and gray now, but still I steal off by myself into a neighbor’s neat and tidy orchard.”
