Perfection

by William Carlos Williams

O lovely apple!

beautifully and completely

rotten,

hardly a contour marred—

perhaps a little

shriveled at the top but that

aside perfect

in every detail! O lovely

apple! What a

deep and suffusing brown

mantles that

unspoiled surface! No one

has moved you

since I placed you on the porch

rail a month ago

to ripen.

No one. No one!