Peony Season

Peonies at Dusk

White peonies blooming along the porch
send out light
while the rest of the yard grows dim.

Outrageous flowers as big as human
heads! They’re staggered
by their own luxuriance: I had
to prop them up with stakes and twine.

The moist air intensifies their scent,
and the moon moves around the barn
to find out what it’s coming from.

In the darkening June evening
I draw a blossom near, and bending close
search it as a woman searches
a loved one’s face. 

Jane Kenyon 1993 

what peonies!
one poem per flower
will not do
~ Ryumin

half a mind
to dress up and bow down
to the peony
~ Shiki