Catkin young,
Soft, sage and fuzzy,
Catkin brave,
No leaves are open,
Catkin cold,
Snow freezes toes.
Catkin grow!
Early sign of spring.
Catkin open:
When ripe but soon!
Catkin bloom:
Bring back the birds.
Copyright 2015 Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: Fingers crossed for spring here. Someday soon, we’ll have blooms here, and lots of spring-green shoots! For another catkin poem, see Catkin Fuzzy.
Catkin fuzzy, catkin round,
Hiding there without a sound,
Are you there to amuse
Or are you there to confuse?
You look like a tiny teddy bear,
Huggable and light as air.
Perhaps you hide baby fairies,
Sleepy from eating mulberries?
Does a woodpecker tap tap tap
Or just perch there for a nap?
Would you rather be a dogwood tree
With spiky fruit and tree esprit?
You cannot be just a shrub!
You keep your secrets, that’s the rub.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: I have been trying to get a catkin in focus in a photograph for over a year! Woo-hooo!!
Early one spring, a wood elf named Jake darted here and there with warming sparkles. He nearly got caught by two humans and a beagle. The beagle spotted him, gave chase and barked. Jake flew up into a tall shrub.
Before the humans even turned their heads, quick as a wink, he swirled his dandelion coat in tight and held to the pussy willow branch. Just another catkin, hiding in plain sight. Which one is the bud and which the wood elf?
Only the beagle knows. Jake wiggled the branch when the humans passed by, and dropped some raindrops onto the waiting beagle’s nose. He hid again, and then peeked at the wagging tail of the beagle, happily walking away, christened by the wood elf. Jake grinned, then merrily went back to warming forsythia buds and catkins.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Friendly Fairy Tales 