Memory’s Promise … (another poem)

There is an old crustaceous magnolia tree out front
Such a messy and crusty bedraggled old tree
Constantly shedding wonky withering leaves
On to the immaculately trimmed and otherwise ‘tidy’ lawn

These limp leather leaves quickly curl, rot, decompose and stink
Verdant green to yellow flake to sludge mud
Such a messy mess, this constant carpet of fallen debris
But, we don’t really really mind, because

For one week, in mid-May, that old gnarled brute is utterly MAGNIFICIENT -
ABLAZE in BRILLIANT EXOTIC BLOOM: so VIBRANT, so JOYFUL, so ALIVE !
This dominate memory obliterates any additional day-to-day up-keep
We all know that funny old grump will BLOOM BRIGHT again, next year.