The hillside is a riotous mess now.
Everywhere, green sprouts rise
despite the winter’s debris, winning
the contest between the green and brown.
Several days ago, over a week now,
I got a notion to spot a baby fern
on its first day and to watch it unfold
into full fernhood. I have searched daily
and searched diligently, carefully eying
the ten thousand details lest I miss it,
the first one’s birth. Until today,
I had to say, “Not yet.” But today,
on a cold and misty April morning,
just as a robin sang from the woods –
the first I had heard this year – I spotted it,
already tall and rising from its curled sleep.
And now I get to watch it grow.