Experience is not what happens to a man;
it is what a man does with what happens to him.

Aldous Huxley, Texts & Pretexts: An Anthology With Commentaries

i have always been a fruit connoisseur and never
missed the slightest opportunity to get acquainted
with the taste and texture of the unknown. not once.
that night, i tried a bunch of cotton candy grapes,
and then the williams’ bon chrétien pear, and even
an oriental persimmon. but in the end, as always,
i found solace in looking at the envy apple, the one
that i was forbidden to eat. and so the gardener
turned into his dog.