Five Million Shades of Green

Set the clock to spring
and the earth will bring
five million shades of green

End the winter’s drought
when we’ve done without
five million shades of green

No more the gray-blue shades
of darker evergreens that fade:
juniper, holly, fir and pine,
crutches they, to hold the line
all throughout the cold and wet
so our eyes will not forget
five million shades of green

Avocado, emerald, kelly,
froggy back and snakelet belly,
limey-lemon and lemony-lime,
grapes a bursting on the vine,
beans and peas and carrot tops,
tendrils from a dozen crops,
lettuce, cabbage, new-mown hay,
streaks of dawn at break of day,
algaed rocks in rushing streams,
minnows flashing silver gleams,
moss and clover, melon rinds,
baby needles on the pines,
clinging vines and wild duck eggs,
grassy stains on children’s legs

Flee the cities, shed your shoes,
frolic as a child would choose!
Drink in all that you can get
so your eyes will not forget
five million shades of green