"Simple Gifts"

Each day the thermometer's mercury has crept higher: 95, 97, 101.
In this crucible of heat and languor nature ripens; a lush unfolding - the marriage of fecundity and decay - climaxing to an equinoctial solstice.

I take to the woods with anticipation; never has the forest been so alive. 

Yesterday I chanced upon a Oxydendrum arboreum / known as a Sourwood, Lilly-of-the-Valley or Sorrel Tree. Exquisite creamy, bell-like flowers, dripping decadence at the end of each branch. If a sourwood tree's branches are arms, her sleeves of green are edged with ivory tassels.

Going a little deeper into the woods, I scrambled off the path and into a brambled mess for I'd seen the winking black-eyed berry.

***

Picking blackberries must be a tactful conversation

of gloved hands. Otherwise your fingers will bleed

the berries' purple tongue; otherwise the thorns

will pierce your own blank skin. Best to be on the safe side,

the outside of the bush. Inside might lurk

nests of yellowjackets; rabid bats; other,

larger hands on the same search.

The flavour is its own reward, like kissing the whole world

at once, rivers, willows, bugs and all, until your swollen

lips tingle. It's like waking up

to discover the language you used to speak

is gibberish, and you have never really

loved. But this does not matter because you have

married this fruit, mellifluous, brutal, and ripe.

-Stephanie Bolster

***

Later driving, I pull over on the shoulder of the highway to pick a bouquet of Daucus Carota / Queen Anne's lace with my daughter. This 'wildflower/weed' is not particular to cultivated gardens alone; she can be found holding her lacy head high along the fringes of ditches, if not, coyly weaving around & softening the metallic guardrail's glare.

I've read of jams made with Queen Anne's lace - translucent jars revealing kaleidoscope blossoms sealed in time. 

***

In three day's time, we'll reach the summer solstice. In this peak season of simple gifts, running becomes a treasure hunt - my pace has slowed down as the temperature's risen, and perhaps that really is just as nature intends.