Virgin Moment

Before the full flower,
this beginning of blossom
again makes me gasp.

From each fat green bud,
multiple fuschia burstings
open to the sun.

Could it possibly
have been this astonishing
last year? With new eyes

and contour never
viewed until this own morning,
the virgin moment

shapes me and the bloom.
I swell, I stretch and I spread,
thrilled to encompass

their deluxe wonder,
I become rhododendron.
(Does it become me?)

©Susa Silvermarie 2016

These early bloomers are the cultivated hybrids, but the pink/white native rhododendrons will fill the pine-oak rocky woodlands here in the Blue Ridge mountains soon!