Spring Saplings

Shortly after we moved into our "new" cabin in 2019, we planted two young crabapple trees of differing varieties. Here is their story so far.

Spring Saplings 

A comical brush-like crabapple

boasting straight-up branches

now buried in springtime blossoms

droops after last night's storm,

top heavy with fuchsia tints.

Across the yard, savaged by winter

and ravenous deer, a half-sib clings

to scant buds streaked shell-pink.

Undaunted, this fledgling

dressed in gossamer thin greenery

tucks the few florets into her hair,

charming as Cinderella.

Offspring of kindred stock,

one thrives and the other struggles.

In fairytales the downtrodden

triumph, stepsisters fade away, forgotten,

and Bambi doesn't shred young trees.

But these two dwell in a proper forest

where work boots trump glass slippers,

and pumpkins remain vehicles for pies.

Marilyn Aschoff Mellor