go outside and smell the honeysuckle

if it’s spring where you are i encourage you to go outside and smell the honeysuckle. this morning [while doing so] i remembered sniffing the little white and yellowing blooms along the schoolyard of my kindergarten. i learned from the other children how to pick apart the petals to slurp down a tiny drop of nectar. how beautiful. the child brain trust. is it ancient knowledge?

don’t get me wrong, i’m not saying to plant japanese honeysuckle (in the us). i’m not naive to its role in degrading ecosystems. however it is often around and it’s sweet scent is free. or you can buy it from georgia’s own montane as a sparkling water flavor. it makes an excellent wearable fragrance. and somehow even children know of its sensory sublimity. so next time you scoff at its regular degular status as “invasive” maybe at least sniff it?