My favorite perfume is in the air! The ‘Miss Kim’ lilac is blooming. When I was a kid, our backyard was lined with the old-fashioned lilacs, Syringa vulgaris – an ugly name for a tall scrubby shrub whose sturdy purple flowers are much more impressive than the tiny, floppy ones of the French lilacs in today’s gardens. The scent of lilacs in the breeze brings me back to warm sunny days of childhood. What scent brings out memories for you?
I stood among the crooked trunks
Of old lilacs, and disappeared
In blue-green teardrop leaves
Shining cool in the warm sun.
All was silent except for bees
dressing themselves in purple,
While humming happy work songs.
A thick, sweet perfume,
Like heaven’s breath,
Floated in the soft breeze.
I was a brown doe
Hiding from the hunter, my mother,
Who, if she found me,
Would undoubtedly wonder
Why I was standing there
Like an idiot,
And call me in for chores
Or something else mundane.
I was sure she could not see
the wild woods
Of my imagination.
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