IMOGENE’S NOTEBOOK | TRUE COLORS

Nature’s Instruction

A poem

Photo by on

Down by the covered bridge
trees in gentle repose,
a clearing like any you’ve seen —
strewn with clover.

Come April, violets weave through the grass —
purple, yellow, white veined with blue,
hearts of leaves catching the breeze,
nodding to a tangerine sun.

School bells sound in the distance,
Eleventh grade English waits in the wings.

I skip all of it to lie in those flowers,
knowing nothing from books
could capture such rapt attention
as nature’s soft instruction.

© Elisa Affanato, 2025

I am grateful to

Sally Prag

,

Jojo Teckina

, and

Debra G. Harman

for their editorial excellence. I am equally grateful to my readers for their steadfast support.

I am always glad for nature’s soft instruction.