branches gilded with sunlight
uphold the brilliance of blue
with an occasional fluff of cloud

a white butterfly
flutters up
darts away

chestnut buds gleam like pale candles
while maple buds soften—
only the walnut holds to winter

---

Joanna M. Weston has had poetry, reviews, and short stories published in anthologies and journals for twenty five years. She is the author of the middle-reader, Those Blue Shoes (published by Clarity House Press) and the poetry chapbook A Summer Father (published by Frontenac House of Calgary).