Spring Azaleas 

by Roddie McKenzie

Another spring: 

green muzzle flashes from the ground,

annuals detonate along the border;

savage ambushes of the retina.

A walk becomes hazardous,

dodging the floral salvos

and technicolour shrapnel.

The boom of reds,

the whine of orange,

the shriek of yellows,

the zip and chatter

of automatic daffodil fire.

I long for the soft bloom of evening skies.

And then I see them.... azaleas,

fluorescent and hallucinogenic

in the dusk, petals winking

from soft violet to bold cobalt.

Like cool flames,

flickering,

nuances of blue.

Their soft satin light,

soothes my eyes,

comforts me,

in velvet

moments.