Said the Leaf
DESCRIPTION
This book began 60 years ago in 1951, when the author was just a
child riding the school bus each morning, looking at the beauty of
the seasons of the mountains, and filled with emotion within it's
grandeur. Years later, away from home and longing to return, she
was at another beginning...learning to believe in herself as a
writer...and the words of her love of the mountains birthed in her
writings. She wrote the first part of the book's poem, which was
published in Skylark, the Fine Art Annual of Purdue University,
while she was a student at Purdue. She, however, knew the poem was
incomplete.
Upon returning home to Western
North Carolina, the emotions once more filled her heart, but she
expressed this in becoming a storyteller, telling her stories of
growing up in the mountains while her sister, Doreyl, spontaneously
illustrated the stories. This year, 2011, while reflecting upon her
life in the mountains, the rest of the poem suddenly came in a
rush, pouring like a waterfall onto her paper. And so, within this
storytelling book you will find 60 years of the love of the
mountains, cumulating in storytelling fashion by author and artist,
the Ammons Sisters.
EXCERPT
Somewhere in the Great Smoky Mountains . . .
Autumn comes in the middle of the night like a thief
And brightens my life, said the leaf
He moves softly and stealthily changing my attire . . .
I'm alive! I'm alive! Colors of fire!
The wind whistles, the wind tugs, oh the rustling sound!
I dance, I fly . . . I wither and die, and fall to the
ground
It's cold, so cold, hidden there below,
but no, winter warms me with a blanket of snow!
My spirit, my soul dips into the ground.
I slide, I slide . . . on down, on down . . .
Into Mother Earth to the roots of Father tree.
I replenish and nourish, oh it tickles me!
In the dark, in the quiet, I feel strength and power,
As spring thaw blooms in it's waking hour.
Then up, up, up I go on high
climbing to branches reaching to the sky.
There, out on a limb, as a bud I begin to grow,
and grow, and grow, and grow, and grow!
I'm washed by the rain, dried in the sunrise,
gleaned by birds and kissed by butterflies.
Now dressed in bright newborn green,
I dance in the breeze, so pristine and lean,
While all around me in hot summer nights
fireflies flicker with pulsating lights.
I watch the evening sky unfold the Milky-Way
hundreds of billions of stars in a galaxy far away.
Then, in the blink of an eye, a moment it seems
the symphony of night sheds its moonbeams.
White clouds roll across the deep blue sky,
with shadow footsteps on mountains oh my!
Below blackberry blossoms bathe in the sun,
while ladybugs emerge and tingle, what fun!
But look!
A child comes running, I see
to play by my tree and look up at me.
She miles and laughs, her hand reaching out,
an angel, a fairy, a giggle, a shout . . .
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