School Days

When I was a small child the teacher said
Today we will draw a tree.
Color the leaves green. Color the trunk brown.

The trunk of the maple leaning across the stream
outside my window is washed in red.

The trunk of the maple at the road is tinged
subtle amethyst in the sunshine.

The rough trunk of the great ash outside my door
is moss-green and smoke-gray.

The leaves of the plum tree are red and the leaves
of the willows, as they turn toward the approaching
rain glisten like burnished silver.

Open a child to the world. What do you see? 
At any moment? Red, Green, Gray, Violet, Silver.

Color a tree.

                                                Jeanette Guillaume