Carl Larsson
SIMPLY SNICKERS
SILVER IN SPRING
A silver birch,
Queen of Trees.
So delicate
One wonders if it can bear
The heaviness of snow
That has fallen on its branches!
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So stark, you've been.
So fragile, so colourless,
Throughout winter.
Your silver has faded
Into the background music.
The white of snow,
The weight of snow
Has overwhelmed your silver
With brilliance.
You have seemed grey.
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Yet not just grey;
You have seemed wispy, untidy, bedraggled
And shapeless.
The pines have dominated you.
*
Yesterday we perceived green.
It was not really seeing.
When we tried to focus
The colour faded.
Had we really seen it?
*
It could have been a mirage
In the desert.
But this is no desert.
*
Today we see reality.
The shoots are real,
Tiny tendrils reaching upward.
The leaves are real,
Little plates ready to receive
The meal;
The meal of heat, sun, splendour.
*
Tomorrow you will be a tree,
Full of green,
Etched against the blue.
Your silver will sparkle.
*
You will take your place as
Queen of Trees.
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Spring in another place here:
