Ditch Daze

The beauty of this summer’s roadsides is beyond belief.

Dashing past, engine racing, tires kicking up dust,

Defying the purpose of wildness, is not acceptable.

Time to find a quiet lane and go for a walk.

Ignore the stream of traffic and step off the beaten path.

Hands at sides sweeping softly over flowerheads,

Caressing Queen Anne’s lace, wild phlox, grandmother’s bonnet, chicory.

Releasing pollen, delightful perfumes and even bees

Overladen with bags of yellow, hardly able to rise from the petalled runways.

A multitude of business swarms in the warm summer breeze

Settles and carries on with the unrewarded work of saving our world.

A misstep sends me rolling off the edge,

Laughing and sneezing,

Thankful for ditch daze.

Poem by Dorothy Shropshire,

Creemore.