RHODODENDRON

life's a mystery
but it's fragrant as an apple tree
swelling her blossoms in July
in the Kanawha River Valley

the sky's distorting with the heat
a kiln-slicked glaze of baby blue
but there's always hard work to be done
in the Kanawha River Valley

she grew up in Silverton
drew well water for her family
laid silverware by the breakfast plates
and reckoned she was happy
on a little farm not far from here
where the hillsides and the valley
were bursting thick with summer's blazing
fireworks bouquets
of wild rhododendron
wild rhododendron
wildflower
wild rhododendron
wild rhododendron wild

and her daddy was a farmhand
and her mama was a schoolteacher
they worked backbreaking hard
to raise their children
with a touch of old testament iron
and a whiff of wild rhododendron

life's a mystery
but it's tempting as an apple pie
cooling a November windowsill
in the Kanawha River Valley

the clouds are low and concrete grey
the countryside's bare and brambly
but there's always hard work to be done
in the Kanawha River Valley

she grew up in Silverton
drew well water for her family
laid silverware by the breakfast plates
and reckoned she was happy
on a little farm not far from here
where the hillsides and the valley
will soon be drifted deep with snow
while seeds wait down below
to bring springtime's rhododendron
wild rhododendron
wildflower
wild rhododendron
wild rhododendron wild

and her daddy was a farmhand
and her mama was a teacher
and they worked backbreaking hard
to raise their children
with a touch of old testament iron
and a whiff of wild rhododendron

life's a mystery
but it's beautiful as she is
God' own little wildflower
my wild rhododendron

August 4, 2006
Ripley WV