Meadowsweet
By Patricia Arrington
My poem is about one of my favorite Maine wildflowers that I often see out on walks when I visit Pemaquid in the summer. I now grow them in my own garden to remind me of my time there. Meadowsweet (Spiraea alba) attracts many species of bees, beetles, butterflies and wasps with its nectar and it is a joy to watch them attentively visit the blooms. Native to Maine, meadowsweet provides nesting habitat for birds, browse for deer and rabbits, and is a host plant to over 100 species of caterpillars.
Hundreds
of blushing faces,
sunny greeters
of the forest edge
between sandy
road sides
and the dark
of trees.
Never one,
but multitudes.
A conversation
of bumblebees
and wasps.
Great black diggers
rendered dainty,
sipping teacups,
their spindly legs
dipping among
feathery stamens,
wings tucked
in iridescent cloaks.
Frothy steeples
mark the point
where the road
curves away
from beach roses
and bayberry bushes
that anchor the land
from waves,
and enters the shade
under cool pines
where the wood asters
and swamp azaleas
linger
in the damp.