A blue dress stands out against the moving leaves.
Reaching up she holds a limb and swings her feet,
Catching a branch with her legs she pulls herself higher,
She laughs as she climbs.

A moving world of green,
A thousand shades,
Leaves brushing her face,
Twigs catching her clothes.

Twenty feet below,
Infinity above,
She climbs on,
Seeming to dance as she twists and turns,
Whirls and spins,
Joy of life,
Happiness and freedom,
Carefree and light as the wind and the leaves.

Thirty feet up,
There's no stopping her now,
She knows what she's doing,
She's not afraid.
The height is nothing to her,
She needs to breathe the air the birds breathe,
The fairies are calling her,
Guiding her to the top,
And she herself becoming more fairy-like the higher she gets.
A sprite, dancing,
A brownie, weaving,
A nymph, a dryad,
An elf, spiralling through the leaves.

Forty feet, she's almost there,
A breath of wind curls through her yellow hair,
Her laughter tinkling through the air,
Her voice joins the birdsong.

Fifty feet! She's there at last!
She bursts through the canopy,
Arms waving,
Face upturned to the sky,
She's free,
A smudge of gold in a world of green.

14/09/2006
© Bonnie C. Aspinwall 2006