The Peaceful Forest

All is still in the serene forest,
wrapped in the process of 
spring renewal under a calm
sky of periwinkle blue. Until
the stillness is suddenly rent
with the piercing whistle of
two hawks, circling above the
yet-bare forest canopy. Not
even a whisper of wind but
the fierceness of their audible
calling card focuses the woodland
to instant attention. Soon quiet
again prevails leaving an
underlying nervous tension.
Having no influence on the
steadily emerging specimens
on the forest floor, as bracken
forms when ferns and baneberry
trilliums and trout lilies begin
to crowd one another's space
colonizing the barren landscape
that winter's departure has left.