“Final Spring”

“That spring Skylar’s senses tuned exquisitely into nature. He noticed the first gorgeous flowering of the rosebud cherry trees, whose blossoms were unevenly pink, ranging from rose to pastel, and further, even to white, and which, from a distance looked hoary. The long-stamened, yellow-green flowers of the Ohio Buckeyes appeared just before their distinctive, five-parted leaves. The appearance of two types of three-petaled trillium, or wake robin, deep maroon and white, whose flowers contrasted dramatically with their deep green, heart-shaped leaves thrilled him. The white petals of the Showy Lady’s Slipper, suffused with pink pigment and amusingly formed like an item of female footwear, emerged atop their hairy, ovoid leaves. The end of winter brought the return of songbirds; Skylar’s heart grew lighter as he listened to the unevenly paced creakiness of the robins, the pure whistle of the warblers, and the fourth, trilled, final note of the song sparrows.”