The vanity of the lilac's flowering
Is in the brevity of those white or purple blossoms.
The rest of the year, it is a woody weed,
Dark-leaved, serviceable for a border or a little shade,
A sermon in humble usefulness.
(The saint's severity, Freud said,
Is the proof of desire. And what is greater
Than the pride of the outwardly humble?)

The lilac's bark is tough, and rasps the knuckles.....

Jordan Smith
For Appearances
2001 Tampa Review Prize for Poetry
in Poetry Daily