Verbena

Come to find me, my mortal love
in the warming days when the secret pathways beckon,
when dandelion wine has quickened the blood
and filled the head with longing.

I will show you the ancient sculptures
of twisted chestnut hulk, olive shaded fungus, and fallen sycamore fruit.
Then will I sweep aside the leaves of maidens Blueberry and Sassafras  
to present with courtly flourish, Pink Lady Slipper.

For my hummingbird chirrup of delight
you will conduct the solos of crow caw and pileated gooney.
We will waltz together barefoot on the old dirt road
bestirring silky puffs of cornstarch in the summer dust.              

Anoint my head in icy rivulets
that trickle with delightful slowness
down through knobs and hollows and glens and passes
to cool a sticky summer sweat.

Boldly tease lush blackberries from their sepals
and paint my skin with birch twig whimsied dark sweet juice.
Slide an elderberry laden twig in slow temptation
past eager lips that nip and tug to burst small perfect fruits.

Kiss me, then, in the leafy glade
along the old logging road
until my toes dig and scratch
their own turkey scrapes into the pungent loam.  

Bind me to this place with scented chains of chamomile
at shoulders, waist, and thigh
as my enchanted kisses grant your fancy
to explore infinities of other worlds than this.  

Lay me down in a bed of sphagnum moss
and cover me with leaf quilted sunlight.
Cradle me between two smooth tree roots
on linens of your flannel shirt.

I will bond your palm, and too your heart, to mine,
with three drops of bloodroot,
and lead you in reverent susurration
along the deer banked path beneath the spicy hemlocks.

Gently shake me down a wisteria blossom veil
and don a crowfoot boutonniere to walk me down a fern lined aisle.
Stand beside me.  Breathe in a summer of sun brushed hair
and breathe out in pledge and oath your vow.

Lie with me on a moonless night as we hide,
entwined, from impertinent mosquitoes
and listen as a thousand peepers in the pond
sing the glories of a thousand stars.