You were green once,
As the sun peeked above the horizon,
You stepped from your bud,
Exploded in color, racing your brothers and sisters,
Reaching to the clouds,
Drinking their tears.
You grew, blessed by light and warmth,
The summer brought drought,
Hot rays of radiation from the yellow
Globe of eternal life and death.
You survived. Turning upside down as
The heat beat upon your epidermis,
Your skin, and you released gases to the sky
When it cooled at night,
Protecting the mobile creatures who
Rested beneath you.
Then the world cooled, and days
Brought a rainbow of change.
Possessed by the wild of glory,
You dressed for a ball
In colors no one could miss,
That no one would miss,
For you radiated the history
Of a growing season.
The wind came and teased you,
“Take flight, join me, whirl with me,
Twirl with me, spin and dance,
Chase the clouds, travel the world
Toward the sea.” So you did. For an eternity
The world danced beneath you until,
When the cold rain fell upon you,
Exhausted, you fell to the ground.
Mourning the end of your life,
You surrendered to the inevitable end.
Then hoar frost stole upon you that night,
Like a fairy godfather or mother,
Glistening you, crystalizing upon you,
And glorious, like a diamond,
You knew beauty again.
Ann WJ White 