Spring is here

Spring has arrived here in western Pennsylvania.
Along the roadsides birch trees are beginning to show the first leaves of spring.
Clusters of green dot the landscape and brighten the drab colors of winter.
Willows are leafing out in the bottoms along the creeks.
Scatted shrubs and other trees have traces of palest spring green,
sprouting from outstretched gray branches.
Different species show a mottled pattern of varying hues of color.
The hills in the background are covered by pale red forests.
The maples are in flower with tiny red blooms.
The dark greens of pine and hemlock provide sharp contrast to the new foliage.
A spray of white flashes here and there among the pastels,
Cherry trees are in blossom.
Scattered beech trees retain their tattered shroud of brown fall leaves,
Brown hued leaves clinging to the limbs of oak trees.
The trunks, branches, and skeletal limbs are still visible,
behind the downy coverings of new leaves.
They provide structure, substance, and strength to the trees.
Some show the gnarled twisted strength of age,
others the outreach of branches in the rush of youth.
Spring is a time of color.
It is not the exuberant reds, and oranges of autumn,
but a time of subtle hues and pale pastels.
It is a time of hope for the new year.

Edward Frank