The haunting melody of new growth reverberates, quietly and distinctly, throughout Appalachian Mountain County woodlands this early day in May.
Tender, young leaves of tree and bush, freshly bathed by a light pre-dawn rain shower, have taken on an especially virile glow to their virgin green sheen.
Enchanting music is played by a symphony of emerging bracken fern fronds
that are scattered far and wide on the forest floor in a variety of sizes. The young
fronds are in various stages of unrolling themselves as they reach out for the light and
warmth of the rising sun. When one listens closely, the quiet sound of growth can be
heard.
The early springtime hills are coming alive with a vision of color and the sound of music (in solo and in chorus) and the impressionistic portraits are as many, varied and sized as the slopes of the ridges are far and wide in Appalachian Mountain Country.
Juneberry's white canopies spotlight the slopes as the forest floor becomes a rainbow of spring beauty, trout lily, wood sorrel, marsh marigold, skunk cabbage, the pinks, lavenders, whites and blues of hepaticas, the white/yellow of bloodroot, toothworts, red, white and painted trilliums and the emerald green of mayapple colonies soon to unfold their pretty little yellow-checked white face blossoms.
Halfway from the ground a large cluster of golden yellow coltsfoot glows brightly off the dark background. It reflects the bright light of the day with a brilliance enough to rival the sun itself. Or is it the Earth's own light that shines out from the heart of the world in rebirth of last year's summer time?
All along the remainder of this day's byways strips and patches of early Spring colors, glisten like costume jewelry from the wellspring of Earth's heart sun, each little flower a sparkling bright gleam in the grand beam which sculptures the scheme of this year's scene.
Copyright © 1988-2000 Barbara A. Smith and John G. Hipps. All rights reserved.
This essay was first published May 3, 1989 in the Free-Press Courier, Westfield, Pennsylvania.