Honeysuckle

Profusive in its growth, and rambunctious,
Tumbling down in tangles
From the tops of the trees,
Leaves dyed with the deep green of spring –
Deep, like one sees in the sky at night –
Flowers of soft yellow and purest white,
Crowning oak and elm
With cornets of silver and gold
And covering the forest floor with a carpet
For the Lord to walk upon
When He comes in the cool of the evening,
Scenting the breeze with sweet incense,
Nectar like honey for the tongue hiding within,
Adornment of the spring in Dixie,
Generous gift to the Southern folk
From the Hands of the Gardener
Who fashioned the First Paradise of Eden,
And, in these later times,
The lesser garden of the South.