Stemmy and the Ferns 2
🎶Good morning good morning
It’s the very best of mornings
And it’s gonna be a beautiful day
The sun is shining red and gold
(Don’t you know)
The birds are singing do re me
(And la ti do)
Good morning good morning
It’s the very best of mornings
Won’t you sing with me now and say
It’s gonna be a mystically magically,
Totally fantastically
Wonderful, beautiful
day!!”🎶
Stemmy loved the morning song!
He never grew tired of singing along
And he sang As loudly as he could!
It always felt real good to just let it out!
To sing to scream to shout!
“Oh my goodness you sing so loud!
Won’t you ever calm down?”
The ferns all gasped and covered their ears.
“It’s ok to sing quiet we will still hear!”
The ferns were a whispy whimpery bunch
And didn’t care for loud noises much
It had been a little while
since stemmy had popped
Up above the ground
And he had since learned
That there were nothing but ferns
And more ferns
all Around!
Towering high above him
They always seemed sad
Moaning and crying
About this and about that
And when their long knobby leaves
Would brush along the ground
the ferns would cry
“ooh ahh ow!”
Stemmy asked a Fern one day
“Does it hurt to touch the ground?”
Fern sadly giggled
in her own little way and said
“no but it’s polite to make a sound!”
That made no sense to Stemmy.
And confused he must have seemed
“One day you’ll understand” she said,
When your leaves got long and green
But until then just stay down here
It’s better if you’re not seen.
You look a bit odd in
That long knobby stem of green!
My dear! You really need some leaves!”
Scornfully she swept away
And with a swish found her place
Among the other ferns
who plaintively swayed to and fro
And as her leaves brushed the earth
She cried
“Ah uuh oh!”
For what seemed the millionth time
Stemmy looked down
But he remained
Long bumpy and leafless
All the way to the ground.
He felt out of place
And strange indeed
When all around him
Everyone had hundreds of leaves!
“StickFern” they would whisper
And giggle and swish
They had never seen anyone
As strange as this!
One morning Stemmy opened his eyes
He drew a sharp breath and realized
Something was different about today
Something was different in a big big way!
Something….
He looked to his left and then to his right
Then back to his left and back to
His right
Then back to his left
Then back to his right….
And then He shouted with all his might,
🎶“I have leaves
I have leaves!!
Everybody come and see!
I have leaves
I have leaves!
Don’t you see what this means?
I’ve been working internally
Invisibly changing me
Slaving away
Nobody else could see
What was happening inside of me
Every day!
But that’s changed!!!!
Now I can say!
I have leaves
I have leaves
3 wonderful leaves!
I have leaves
I have leaves
Can’t you see
Their just tiny yet I know
But just wait until they grow
But for now let me show you
My leaves
My leaves
My 3 wonderful leaves!
My leaves
My leaves
Leaves
My 3 wonderful leaves!”🎶
“Oh do be quieter StickFern boy!”
Old Fern leaned over
Peering this way and that
“There’s no need for this much joy.
Life without sadness
Will lead straight to madness
And that, my dear, no one enjoys!”
His dark leafy face
Saggy and brown
Sunk deeper into the shape of a frown
Impossible as that may sound.
“Oh dear those leaves are short and stubby
Not even long enough to touch the ground.
“Now look see here? Mine are long and lovely
Best keep your little head down
My boy.
If you wanna be a fern you’ll have to employ
Better tactics than what you’ve done!
Those tiny leaves will never see the sun!”
Poor Stemmys head bowed down to the ground
He wanted leaves yes
But now
he was even more strange and weird
How could he be a proper fern
If he appeared
so different from all the rest?
He had tried so hard…..
He had done his best!….
Hmmmmm…..
Yes!
He HAD done his best!
So stemmy stood up
All the way up
Pounded his little leaves on his little stemmychest and shouted!
“I am not StickFern anymore!
I have leaves and sure they’re short
But they’re leaves Nevertheless
And if you can guess
What would you guess? That
And I’m proud of me doing my best!”
And he sang,
🎶“I’m proud of me doing my best
I know it’s not like the rest
I’m unique and that’s just fine
I do my best every time
I don’t worry if I look strange!
Or my friends think I’m insane,
I’m proud of me doing my best anyway.”🎶
Stemmy sang loud and proud
As everyone should!
Never hide your own special voice
It’s beautiful and good!
When all at once he noticed
His was the only voice he heard
Everything was silent now
Nothing stirred
Not even the birds.
“What’s going on?” He asked the ferns
Who hushed him and shushed him
And said “it’s none of your concern!”
They seemed nervous
And tense and held perfectly still
Like tall sad ferns sometimes will.
Far far in the distance
Stemmy thought he heard
And….was beginning to feel
A low rumble
Deep in the earth
Like an angry growl
And rising steadily now.
Becoming louder and louder
Until the air all around
Was filled with the dreadful sound.
All the ferns held their ears
And began to wail in despair!
“Ohhhhh…Its the grass gobbler! It’s here!
It’s come back and we’re scared!”
They cried out in fear
As they swayed and stared!
Stemmy caught just a
glimpse of the gobbler machine
In between two ferns
And he froze
then screamed
and hurled himself down
Whatever this was making that awful sound
Couldn’t be good
He lay flat on the ground
Just cause he felt like he should.
The whirring and slicing and roaring
Increased and stemmy could feel the ferns long green leaves
Covering him as they pressed to the ground
Trying to get away from that awful sound
“Rrroooooooaaaaaaaarrrrrrr!!!!!”
The noise was right above and behind
Stemmy wondered now if he would die
The weight of the ferns pressed in from all sides
And he couldn’t move a muscle
But he could make sounds
So he laid there.
Screaming into the ground
This life was not turning out to be
all sunshine and rainbows
And cute little bees.
It had seemed so fun and amazing at first
But now here he lay
Crushed into the dirt.
Slowly the roaring faded
Stemmy lay quiet now
And waited
He wasn’t even sure if
he’d ever stand up straight
Or even if his new leaves would be ok?
Then off in the disrance
a bird sang a little tune
And just like that
life seemed to resume.
Stemmy wiggled and struggled
Trying to get up
But the ferns held him tight
He was stuck!!
He pushed and strained
Under their weight.
“Hey get off me!
I want to stand up straight!”
“Ah” “ohh” “ooowww” “aaahhh uuuuuhh”
Never had stemmy been more happy
to hear the ferns complain the way they do
They began to shift and slide and moan and cry
And finally he was able to struggle upright.
The ferns seemed quite a bit worse for wear
Some had cuts and some had tears
Some had been chopped clean off near the ground
Their long green leaves spread all around
“Oh my dears!” Stemmy cried
“Does it hurt?”
“Oh no, we’re fine.” Murmured the ferns
“We don’t really need to cry.
But we’re not as strong as you
And it really is the polite thing to do.”
Stemmy stood up straight
Checked his leaves
They were there!
All three!!
All perfectly safe
short, stubby,
And a deep rich green.
It felt a bit tall standing above every one But Stemmy threw back his head and gazed up at the sun
How long he had dreamed for this day to come!
He felt bad for the ferns
But they seemed ok
He knew they’d eventually grow back anyway.
Day after day stemmys
leaves opened up!
They were large and smooth
Shimmering green in the sun.
Stemmy had never been so proud.
And when he sang
As always he sang real loud…
🎶“My day
Is full of
All the things I love
My nights are full of
dreams in the sun
Can’t wait tomorrow
My days are full of
All of the things I love.
Sometimes I’m standing perfectly still
Watchin the sun come up over a hill
And sometimes a nap is just the best!
Sometimes the rain will wash my face
And I sway and dance in place
And sometimes I work so hard till I begin to sweat!
And I’m all out of breath!
My day is full of
Doing all the things that I love
I get to do all the things that I love.”🎶
The song was interrupted
by a familiar thud thud thud
Oh good! Stemmy thought here comes
Someone walking down the path!!
For once Stemmy would be able to see
Who or what was walking past!
Would they be friendly
Would they stop and say hi?
With no ferns to hide
stemmy stood tall and proud
This was his big moment now!
He wanted to be as beautiful as he could
For whoever was walking thru the woods.
Thud thud thud thud
The thuds were very close
Then they stopped
Right in front of stemmys nose!
He held his breath then looked
up with a grin
To a little girl looking down at him
Her face lit up with a big happy grin and she squealed
“Oh look mommy dear!
Look what I found!
A tiny new plant
And it wasn’t mowed down!”
Her mommy came over
and bent down to look
“Oh my Stella!
What sharp eyes it took
To see this beautiful flower
Tucked in among the ferns
It’s about to bloom as well
These buds are going to burst!”
“What’s bloom mean mommy?” Stella asked peering over
“Bloom is what stemmys do
when their flowers are ready to open
Give it a day or maybe two
And you’ll see this stem beginning to bloom!”
“See? Heres a bud
And Another
And there is a third!
I’m so glad this flower
Isn’t hidden by the ferns!”
Stemmy couldn’t believe his little stemmy ears!
He thought hed been a fern
Whose leaves were just a bit weird
He was a flower?!
and he was gonna bloom?!
3 times at that!
And so soon!!
“Thank you! Thank you thank you!
He called at the backs
Of Stella and her mommy
Thud thud thudding down the path.
Stemmy couldn’t stop himself,
🎶That
Did you hear that?
What the lady walking by just said?
A fern?
I’m not a fern!
I thought my leaves are strange
But there’s no need for concern!
I felt like a silly clown
All my leaves point up not down
But maybe there’s hope for me yet!
I’m not broken
I’m not strange
Im simply just rearranged
A different way
You got your leaves
I got mine
They’re both different
And that’s fine
So here’s what I say
We bloom in different ways
But we’re flowers just the same!
That?
Did she say that
I could be a triple bloomer yet
What?
I say what what?
I better write it down
Before I forget 🎶
Stemmy sang in his loud bellowing voice!
“Oh dear ahhh ohhhh” the ferns clutched their broken leaves over their ears.
“We get it now! you’re a flower
And good sense it makes we guess
But could you please just shut it down!
Look at us! We’re still a mess!”
Stemmy felt like he was floating on a cloud high above the earth
He wasn’t just Stemmy now
And not a fern that goes “ah ooh ow!”
He was a flower and he was gonna bloom!
It was finally his turn!
