driving by a garden

the sudden smile of black eyed susans
growing widely and unpretentiously
at the edge of the road
follows the drivers into the otherwise gray
roads through the city;
you cannot really speed up
first of all because of the children
on the way to school or a baseball game;
but because of bikers and possible drunkards
all vulnerable and delicate in some way;
but mostly because you secretly peek
towards the the pink to purple cone flowers
echinaceas and others
like red monardas and colorful lantanas;
and the shy but sturdy asters;
and because your noise
may scare away the butterflies
that only live for a couple of days;
ephemeral and beautiful as they all are
the inhabitants of these permanent gardens.