September: Hay Fever, Hogwash and Goldenrod
Calumny!
Goldenrod is not ragweed;
it doesn’t make you sneeze,
it doesn’t kick you in the sinuses
victim of vicious smear campaigns,
goldenrod is simply late summer sunshine
incarnate, innocent
splendid, green-handled torches
lighting the way for wing-weary
bees dim-eyed from long days’ work.
If you are allergic to beauty,
you have a problem
beyond the range of antihistamines.
So don’t project your prickly grief
over the shutting down of August
onto the burnished gold
of sunset fields aging into autumn.
Don’t blame or shame
but sit a moment in September
by a roadside or a meadow
and get to know your dark blonde
neighbour,
so magnificent and maligned
Roy Frank Obrigewitsch
Posted at 01:44h, 04 SeptemberI apologize dear Goldenrod
beautiful haven for bees
that my nose, sinuses, and lungs
have lied to me these many years.
Peter Bisson, SJ
Posted at 08:18h, 04 SeptemberThank you Greg! And Frank!