Rising straight as canes
around the older farms, the hairy leaves
little arms, the seed for jays,
the fragrance a marriage
of lilac and rose.
They say it came with the early whites
before escaping,
as ornaments may,
the farmyards and gardens
for what’s left of the prairie,
congregating sometimes in ditches,
or among century hedgerows,
outliving towns
called Empire and Cicero.