Princess

She rustles in the wind
her bell skirts fluttering
casting hints of fragrance
onto passersby, who can't
but stop to appreciate her.

One companion ventures near
with their iPhone app at the ready.
"It's a Princess Tree,"
they state definitively.

"No!" "No way!"
"Not true!"
A wave of righteous incredulity
ripples through our group.

In a throng of intellectuals
no one can quite believe
a plant living around here
could be called Princess Tree.

So frilly and whimsical
mere miles upriver from
the granite heart
of Washington, D.C.?

And yet, there it is.
The arbor identifier is right.
Part Disney, part Dr. Seuss,
part Science, there she grows.

And so we stop, and stare.
We marvel that we've never
before noticed her.
We bestow on her due awe.

She's the belle of the ball
our spring vision in purple.
She puts the Princess
in Potomac.