Shake in Vain

Shake in vain the orchard trees
    Hollow hearted, dry and old,
Fruit your inward hands would seize
    Fell when love first smelled the cold.

Seen from here against the sky
    One curled leaf is all that stirs
High on branches bare and dry:
    No one knows why this occurs.

Once the fruit was yours to take
    Now you steal back like a thief,
If your faith’s in shaking, shake—
    Till your hunger turns to grief.