Gardenia

The smell of orange popsicles drip summer afternoons

Daisies climb to the edge of scraped knees

Kiss me gently, and beg to be tucked behind my ear,

 I’ll take you with me 

Through jungles of fifty foot tall oak trees

That once danced with the dinosaurs

Skyscraper ivy

Tangling us in green webs

Thick branches of brown reaching to the sun

Shield your eyes, take refuge within the clouds

They’ll cradle you, in exchange for the rainbow hidden in your pocket

Whisper jokes in their chest,

We can’t afford rain

Take us with you, lady bug

To the cracks on mamma’s marble stoned pathway

To the giants of roses and tulips

The purples and yellows

Mingling in her garden

Teach me the tunnels of burgundy mulch

The land where the sprinklers can’t reach

Where the summer breeze move cities

We can outrun the morning joggers

We can hide from the German Sheppard

Under fallen leaves

We can stay here

With the colors of Leonid Afremov,

Until summer packs its sun away

Until the cool air tells us to retire

Until we outgrow each other,

And I realize you are only a Lady Bug