BRIGHT YELLOW TULIPS BENEATH A DEEP PINK CRAB APPLE TREE

BRIGHT YELLOW TULIPS BENEATH A DEEP PINK CRAB APPLE TREE

 5/7/06

I’ve become very world weary lately. All news seems to be bad news, from every corner of the world. I have been looking forward to Spring this year, as I do every year. I like the weather change from cold to warm as old gray trees and once frozen, brown ground turn green.

This year is a little different since I have 16 new friends. Sixteen big, tall, bright yellow tulips have joined me daily, as I sit in the shade of an older friendship, a deep pink blossomed crab apple tree. My crab apple friend insists on blossoming annually, exactly on my birthday. This year all but two of the 16 newly planted tulips first opened on my birthday. The two other tulips, a little shorter and shy, fully opened up two days later. Today I sat with all sixteen, beneath the deep pink crab apple tree. I felt very happy to be with them as they seem pleased to be with me. The sky was blue with chemtrail swirls, creating a false shade of reality. But my friends seemed unaffected by the artificial clouds and opened their broad petals defiantly, their full beauty offered in reverence to the sun.

I cursed the skies and clenched my fist, angered at the military menace, dimming the sunlight and hope from the sky. Then I saw the pink crab apple blossoms, contrasting against the swirling chemtrails, in the blue. It all blended mellowingly as I glanced at the bright yellow tulips swaying in the breeze.

L.A. STEEL