The barren world lay still. The absence of color set a drab, dreary stage. The trees reached toward the pale blue sky in search of signs of brightness and life. Their boughs stripped, standing in gray nakedness as if death had touched them and neglected to bring them down. The ground below, carpeted in purity, was frozen in time, no footsteps to mark the path.

A chilling breeze rushed by sporadically moving the stark giants as if to test their stability and bring further indignation to their stance. Their movement caused a frozen crackle to fill the frigid air and bounce in sadness upon the virgin snow. Each limb became as a figure reaching in desperation for some form of warmth and pleasure to grasp. Each stood with distant recall of days of green and frivolity.

At once a small form appeared upon the dismal stage. A passenger garbed in a gray suit with a vest of red, just arriving via flight from a departure site far away. He was soon joined by many others as the sky began to ring out in a chorus of merriment. The robins had arrived!

The frigid gray limbs became alive with constant movement. Over and over the act was repeated until each tree hosted a dozen or more guests. Their tiny forms gliding from one tree to the next as if in search of what their hearts had led them to journey toward. The soft flutter of wings, the cheerful chorus song, rang through the air in notes that drifted high above. The once pallid sky turned deep blue, its intensity awaking the sleeping sun. Beams fell in cascades and glimmered on the whiteness below, the world had transformed! The small messengers had journeyed far to bring the promise of spring. The moment glowed and I inhaled the thrill.

All things considered my world is full of beauty. I feel I walk on a very special place. A place of natural beauty and wondrous change. Each spring as the world transfers from the barrenness of winter I become appreciative of all the wonders here. As the colors of new beginnings begin their picture, I am in awe of the harmony of modification. Our planet is more than just the third mass from the sun; it is a place of change, adaptation and survival.

The transformation from winter to spring makes me realize all the glories of my environment. This is my home to share with all the creatures who live here. Like the first robins of spring, we should join together and sing songs of merriment as our world reawakens and springs forth with signs of hope and new beginnings.

If we do not take care to preserve our environment, we may forever be suspended on a barren stage with distant recall of days of green frivolity and never more will the robin come to announce the promise of warmth and joy. ^