IF NO APPLE FELL ON NEWTON’S HEAD

If no apple fell

on Newton’s head,

or it hadn’t dropped just so,

but drifted

like a snowflake,

like soft notes

flooding Newton’s ears,

maybe he’d have only shivered

and sung a rhymeless tune.

If the apple had descended

like a whirlwind

flinging sand and stones,

Newton might awaken

at the sunset of another day

with an aching pate.

If the tree

had grown no apple,

Newton might have kept staring upward

night after starry night,

with nothing to blame

but himself.