Queen Anne's Lace

How like pure white lace is this inflorescence!

It radiates outward from the spear-straight stalk,

And each white bud or bloom, round as a rock,

Graces the compound umbel with its essence.

 

It grows amongst the grasses of the dale,

Outshining monarch’s milkweed’s hideous pods.

This flower is much more fit for queens or gods,

Though fragrance is there none should one inhale.

 

O Anne, Queen Anne! What would you think or say

If told that this wild, poisonous, white weed

Earned more remembrance for you than your reign?

Would you then bless or curse you crowning day

And every royal decree and queenly deed?

I hope you would be filled with joy, not pain.

 

T. G. 9/4/21