O the blessed joys of a winding walkway to a porch with summer phlox welcoming a guest or inviting this homeowner to linger a little longer.
I noticed this as a cool Carolina breeze passed over our porch. So I snapped a photo of the Phlox and found a poetic companion from Sir Edmund Gosse, that once celebrated if not now obscure poet of Cambridge and the House of Lords.
“NEIGHBOUR of the near domain, Stay awhile your passing wain! Though to give is more your way, Take a gift from me to-day! From my homely store I bring Signs of my poor husbanding;– Here a spike of purple phlox, …”
—Edmund William Gosse (1849-1928), Collected Poems (1898)