sweet magnolias

image from http://www.basdenfamily.com/
at the end of spring, at the budding of summer
it is the time when the air smells sweet
from everywhere you are surrounded
by the aroma of southern magnolias

stately and green they mark the south
with imposing and statures. Graciously
they offer globes of white surprises
as their gift to the coming summer.

they share their shade with growing bunnies,
their branches with aspiring climbers
their skinned knees growing strong
with each run on the lawn, with each climb and each rest
in the shade of sweet magnolias

open your flowers and open your hearts
to the heat of the summer, and the songs of robins!
open your eyes and see the white lights
brought to us today as they were before hundreds of years
from the old good times by the sweet magnolias.