A guaranteed miracle,

it happens for two weeks each May,

this bounty of riches

where McMansion, trailer,

the humblest driveway

burst with color — pale lavender,

purple, darker plum —

and glorious scent.

This morning a battered station wagon

drew up on my street

and a very fat woman got out

and starting tearing branches

from my neighbor’s tall old lilac —

grabbing, snapping stems, heaving

armloads of purple sprays

into her beater.

A tangle of kids’ arms and legs

writhed in the car.

I almost opened the screen door

to say something,

but couldn’t begrudge her theft,

or the impulse

to steal such beauty.

Just this once,

There is enough

for everyone.

 

From Never Say Never (Moon Pie Press, 2004).

Used here with the author’s permission.