Southern Magnolia

 
 
 
How horrifying,
the low branches grasping,
almost to the roots.
 
Breathless, smothered
by wide, waxy leaves
that let the sin roll off.
 
The Magnolia bloom though,
the worst by far, opens like death,
cotton-white and expansive.
 
In the Autumn the pods droop
like swords waiting to
sprout from the ground.
 
 
 
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