Sketching in a garden

You look carefully learning the language of leaves: umbels, clusters, panicles, studying each leaf to find the tree's silhouette. You look at a rose until it looks back at you, at faces of pansies watching the world, a fringe of petals opening the eye of a daisy.

With your pencils you try to capture one small shape and then another. On the white paper a garden begins to whisper, ``I'm here.''