for my wife and master gardener Carroll

Aptly named
after the river nymph
who spurned the hot Apollo
choosing chastity
and winning it
at no small price
by metamorphosing
into the laurel tree
a tale Ovid relates
with his practiced aplomb

like a chaste maiden
holds herself back
from opening fully
starts to bloom here
while March nights
still tend toward freezing
her fragrance
though delicate
penetrates far
as noted by the poet
Yang Wanli who wrote
of how the odor drifting
through an open window
woke the Daoist sage Lao Tzu
from a deep sleep
and sweeter dreaming
a scene that I prefer
to Ovid's amorous pursuit

But its the tender feelings
my wife holds
for her beloved daphnes
that move me to admire
the oval leaves
the pale pink flowers
the way the branches form
a balanced harmony
and then of course
the unsurpassed deliciousness
the blossoms spread abroad
once they've agreed
to open