Magnolia Leaves

Magnolia leaves, when dropped,
insert themselves
among the lower plants,
stick out from fissures.

Their leathery composition,
a shield for slugs,
does not decompose for years
though seed cones thrown
are in the shape of grenades.

Some kind of lesson?

I don’t cut this huge tree down
because its blossoms,
large as plates,
seed the air with lemon.

It’s cones when ripe
sport berries as red as a holly’s.
When sprayed with gold,
become Christmas decorations.

The bill for magnolia transactions,
the fee consigned,
is the weekly collection of leaves.
It arrives all year.

Like the price of costly perfumes,
scent of lemon’s dear.