Overnight the redbud

Sometimes change feels immediate, even when we know it's been coming.

Overnight the redbud

Turned completely yellow

Even flung gold leaves

On the sidewalk

With last night’s rain.

Overnight

The redbud

Changed.

Sometimes change

Is like that

Sudden

Immediate.

We miss the first leaf

Then

Suddenly

Every leaf

Gets the message

The fall message,

Most at once.

Change is like that

Sometimes.

Sudden mountains

Driving into Colorado we wondered where the mountains were.  We knew they were there.  We had the advantage of maps.  Still we wondered when the mountains would appear.  Then... there they were.

Hot and humid
Here in the lower elevations.
I would like to add a mountain or two
To Illinois.
I would climb to the top
And stay awhile.
We looked for the mountains
As we entered Colorado.
Nothing.
Nothing.
Nothing.
Then suddenly
They appeared.
We wondered about
Those who walked or wheeled the plains
Only to be startled
By those mountains,
Those sudden mountains.
I think how such sudden mountains
Might improve
Illinois.