A Time for Change

I don’t usually like sudden change.

But some changes are forever amazing.

Overnight a giant Red Maple that has never been red,

turned a brilliant shimmering gold.

Why, it was green yesterday.  I know it was green.

But there she is quietly shouting,

“Look at me!

Am I not a brilliant gold?

Just look at me!”

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For As Long As You May Need Me

Over twenty years ago, Bill planted a sapling.

It was a Red Maple that never turned red in the Fall.

Yellow was always her color.

But this summer she is again sporting her beautiful mantle of green.

Other trees managed to succumb to benign neglect or wicked weather;

• a gigantic Bradford Pear who split in two during a storm called a Durecho,
• a Weeping Cherry who never made it past puberty,
• an enormous Crab Apple who nourished our deer but simply gave up.

But the beautiful Red Maple stayed on as if to comfort and assure,

“I will linger long and grow toward heaven for as long as you may need me.”

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The Yellow Red Maple

Twenty-five years ago we planted a Red Maple tree,

a baby we were not sure would even grow.

But now it is of magnificent proportions.

Does anyone know why our tree was called a Red Maple

when the autumn leaves have always been yellow?

I am not complaining really.

I do see small tinges of red.

But if I have to wait another

twenty-five years for full color,

I may be dead.

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