Lagniappe

Lagniappe Wide plantation shutters open With the laziness of Summered streams To blink against the shimmering reflections Of brilliant midday Dancing on the cobblestones, Mingling With the scent of summer lilacs, Rising With its bon ami At the wedding of the dawn and dusk, When live oaks stretch across broad avenues To join their hands in shady arches - Stately guardians Holding off the power Of the sun - Weaving lacy shadows On the sidewalks and wide boulevards Where two sisters meet – One light as morning Amber eyes of fiery gold, One with hair touched by the autumn Dark eyes deep as midnight shadows - Gifting lagniappes of affection in Sweet bouquets of southern honeysuckle And Nosegays filled with satin daphne - Shared in greeting, Cherished in receiving As summer's sweet perfume Entwined about the roses, Saved In bands of yellowing lace, To walk now arm in arm Under eyelet parasols Exchanging letters, Wrapped in satin ribbons, Strolling through The winding lanes of secret byways Sharing sweet beignets In quiet cafes In the ete afternoon While a playful Huckleberry breeze Catches emerald ribbons Floating From the brims of summer straw hats, Ruffling petticoats, Lacy as the Spanish moss Swaying in the eddies of the air, Until the jasmined sigh of evening Mingles with the rising dews Of the deeply running river To call them back into the twilight mists, In reveries for yet another day.