SPRINGTIME IN THE RGV: CUANDO LOS ARBOLES HABLAN

When springtime comes to South Texas

Dour, gray and thorny huisaches

Sprout joyous yellow fuzzy dandelions

And the sedate mesquite adorns itself with verdant ferns for leaves

And blooms that look like a plague of yellow fuzzy caterpillars

Jostling in the wind for space on its limbs and branches

And the prickly olive green cactus

Sprouts riotous, elegant golden blooms

That turn to purple-meat tuna/pears in the summer coming

Even the eternal ebony fortresses

Sport their blooms before they become pods

And their yellow pollen dust floats on the dark street asphalt

In eddies...

Like Monet water lilies

The chaste and demure desert olive - la anacahuita - now screams out at you

With its wanton loud white flowers

Look at me!

And strews its petals of purity on the sidewalk

Like maidens did before the feet of

Aztec emperor Montezuma

In his strolls

Along the causeways of Tenochtitlan 

There are no seasons in this valley

Just a constant temperate with a short cold snap

And you know its Spring

When the perpetually sullen trees

And prickly-mouth cacti 

Flourish and talk

In April