Great choruses of orange day lilies line the roads now.
They arrive in troops, singing from their golden throats,
their petals opening into fat, happy stars.
I drive past them smiling, Somewhere
in a corner of my mind, I hear ice cream truck music
and my mouth is remembering the textures and tastes
and cold of an orange creamsicle on a hot summer day
when I rode my bike down the sandy road,
dime in my pocket, to buy one.
It’s the memories these wild lilies evoke that make us
smile inside at the sight of them. We think that
we take them for granted. But they bring memories
to all our hearts of summer days like this one.
That’s their gift.