first apple blossoms

I looked out of my window this morning, and there they were.

Delicate. Succulent. Pink-white candle flames glowed on the ends of the apple-tree branches. Flirted with the chilly morning air.

They make me smile. Fill me with that wordless radiance that flowering trees induce. The plum trees are in flower too, along all the streets I walk each day. And the Japanese cherry trees. Several times this week, I've found small white cherry flowers caught in my hair when I come indoors.