My Four Seasons
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During the spring, my leaves are light green and my branches are full. Little flower buds begin to open all around me. I am a good place for a bird to build a nest. Animals wake up and stir inside of me. My roots drink up the water from the refreshing rains that come and go.
In the summer, my leaves are dark green. Children climb up my many branches all the way up to my top. They give each one of them a good shake. Occasionally, they break one off. That hurts, but I really don't mind, as I have plenty of them to give. I give them sticks that they use to play pirates. They pretend the sticks are swords. The days are long and I feel the sun shining on me for hours. Sometimes afternoon thunderstorms cool me off.
When fall comes, the air gets cooler. My leaves lose their green color and begin to turn yellow. They fall to the ground. "Crunch, crunch, crunch," they say as the people walk over them. Sometimes, the people rake up my leaves into great, big piles. The children come back to play, but it's not my sticks they are after. Instead, they come to play in my leaves. They like to jump into the piles. Animals around me are busy at work, building their nests on me.
The cold wind blows. I shiver. Winter is here, and my branches have grown bare. My leaves are all gone. The days are shorter. Animals sleep in my trunk to stay warm. I sleep too, under a blanket of snow. Snow falls and I catch the flakes in my branches. I wait for the sun to come and melt it all back into water. I wait patiently for the first sign of spring.