Gathering Sap by Moonlight
When work keeps me late
Home after sunset, I
Gather sap by moonlight
Across patchwork snow
Enough bright to work by
Without man made light
Buckets, one to a tree,
Empty into carrying
Pails, one to an arm
Til I visit each maple.
And So Nature provides
One moon to light the way
Amongst trees with sweet sap.
I break the perfect cycle
– root to trunk to bud –
To bleed the maple
For syrup on my breakfast pancakes.
Tom Riley is a retiree living on 12 acres in Pittstown. There he gardens, keeps bees, makes maple syrup, and grows hops.