Cardinal Love

The Cardinal Flower has a rich regalia,
the only red among many Lobelia,
to celebrate the baseball team and birds
with red to see, much better than mere words,
the cardinal points, the cardinal numbers too,
the cardinal bishops red from hat to shoe,
the cardinal virtues, any cardinal thing
that's most important under our red wing.
With brilliant scarlet petals stretching out,
a tube for hummingbirds to poke their snout,
and one gold-tipped thin stamen rising high,
this bloom sings silent praises to the sky.
I hope we too are blest by such a shower
as His love drenches God's red Cardinal Flower.

                                 -- by Pete Voelz       2002