Aspen Inspiration

Last year, when we were in Colorado, I fell in love, just as I always do, with the Aspen trees. The Aspen woods we walked through were so fresh. I noticed that the greenest of greeny ferns seemed to flock around the Aspen trunks like so many children around a mother's legs. These lovely scenes inspired me to write a poem. Today happens to be the first birthday of Aspen Joy, the darling girl of my dear friends, Kris and Brooks. I dug out my notebook from last year and found my poem and am posting it as a happy birthday wish to that sweetie little girl.

A Mother and Her Children Observed in the Mountainy Woods

Straight and still, the trunk of Aspen is mottled black and white.
How unlike her are the children playing around her feet.
How wild are the frilly ferns, and greener than the greenest green.
Joyful in the cool damp, the youngest hug their mother's knee, while the rest embark on a woodsy rite of passage.
Sunlight teases and dances on fronds.
The fern children sparkle.
But do not think Aspen oblivious to her flock.
Only cast your eyes upward and notice her trembling leaves.
Turn your ear toward that tender sound.
She is laughing in her graceful way.

Mmm...after I read this again, I think I would like to be that mother. Graceful, peaceful, serene, yet quietly laughing, as my children frolic around me. Only in a poem, right?

Happy Birthday, Aspen! May God richly bless you as you enter your second year of life!