Ode to the Magnolia Tree

I.

Sweet Magnolia your inanimate eyes
See me, outside window daily watching
You, as you do your innate exercise
Amid the changing winds ever blowing;
You cast your verdant raiment without fear
To fall, like a ball in the opened hands
Of compost cheered-on by the green posse;
He loathes your body's naked "wear and tear";
Your beauty sleep is all your head commands
When, heatless sun smiles with awesome mercy.


















II.

In the arches of your sweet curves and lines,
You plant your limbs with feet in sodden shoes
To kip, in sheets white as milk from bovines;
While squirrels and jays guard you as they choose.

















In dreams you see goblins walking about
Before turkeys are plucked, and stuff with nuts;
Kids hunting for tricks and treats ‘neath the full moon;
While St. Nick, before cat licks ears, is out
With shoppers wanting bargains and price-cuts
From Wal-Mart’s racks and tags, all afternoon.

III.
















I saw you there as the sun made its route
Slightly different from that of yesterday
Trapped no more in jaws of frost, beyond doubt,
















Magnolia springs suprise on USA;
Bitter cold days of winter cast aside
Sprouting smiles to a winter-weary world;

















Green-thumbs hitch-hike upward of benumbed dirt;
You bloom the first in early spring, with pride
Exquisite saucer-filled pleasures unfurled;
As all sorts of flying things on you flirt.

IV.

You know, a new year is here! Magnolia
Spills her sweet perfume, of thrills in the air;
Fresh leaves on the boughs, this gift comes from Jah,
Bringing hope, new port, in old-fashioned cheer;
Well poised between the future and the past.
Oh! Magnolia you are my morning star;
And soon, you’ll cast aside your dormant wear;
Now that the winter rains have gone at last;
You’ll come, in full bloom like a well-stocked bar;
So with bated breath I’ll wait for you here.

V.

I have tossed, turned and in my head I think;
One half-tick you may have forgotten me;
With you not here, I cannot sleep a wink;
A question now, when the cadence will be?
You and me on the front lawn a twosome;
Now I see trees are only slightly mad
With anticipation of greenery;
The dankness in this room is bothersome
But the vista before me makes me glad.
Hurrah, hurrah, I’m out of my misery.


















VI.

















As I stand beneath her boughs I see not
A crocus, lily or daffodil’s hue;
Nor squirrels hiding nuts in the green plot;
With flair, Magnolia pours her five-day brew
From cups of whitish, pinkish, lilac tinge.
A fragrance hits my nose beyond compare,
Caught my meditative stance by surprise;
Magnolia’s flaunting beauty shows no cringe,
And her confetti smiles cascade with flair,
Heralding joys of early spring’s sunrise…

© Paterika Hengreaves

This blooming tree grows on the front lawn of my sister’s home in Ohio. Its beauty caught my eyes so in early March of 2007 I wrote "Ode to the Magnolia Tree". It is indeed a magnolia tree from all appearances and botanic behaviour. Right away I mused that a poem in the form of an ode would capture the beauty of this flowering magnolia. The magnolia has become the State Tree/Flower for Louisiana and the Mississippi. These trees grow magnificently amid weather peeves. Now you asked why the ode and not an epic poem on this State tree/flower? I have weighed the pros and cons and for this composition the ode is more appropriate for this moment in time. The ode’s majestic and intricate form of lyrical verse has allowed me to portray my feelings, state of mind and perception towards nature’s awesome beauty in this blooming tree the way no epic poem could do. The epic tells a story and depicts characters and actions and magnolia is not about that; but rather its heraldry of spring now that winter is fast retreating.

“Ode to the Magnolia Tree” takes on the characteristics of the Horatian ode. The Roman poet, Horace perfected this poetic form which consists of a series of uniform stanzas, complex in their metrical system and rhyme scheme. Horatian Odes are characteristically less elaborate and more restrained than Pindaric Odes.The characteristics of the Horatian ode are found in the “Ode to the Magnolia Tree”. A close examination of its structure shows uniformity of its decimeter stanzas. The verses are written in Iambic Pentameter with a rhyme scheme ababcdecde