Mother carefully snipped
a small, green cutting
from her friend's lush yard,
set it to root in an old jam jar.
We kids marveled,
as fragile shoots sprouted,
buds of leaves unfurled,
like baby fists, in sunlight.
Sometime later, Mother
planted the tiny sapling
in the fertile Iowa soil
by our backyard driveway.
We watched in wonder,
doubting its survival
under scorching summer
sun or cold, harsh winter.
But we learned that Old
Mother Nature is shrewd,
and by summer's end
our tree grew four feet tall.
How we loved that willow!
We'd hide beneath its boughs,
to read, or nap, or dream,
our spot to plot adventures.
Dianne Moritz is a children's book author who lives in North Sea.