Mahonia aquifolium is spiky.
It’s hardy, ornamental, evergreen
With berry clusters hanging down—but crikey,
A short-sleeved gardener will turn obscene
With one mere brush against those nasty leaves!
Our feathered friend the catbird doesn’t care
A tittle, though, so long as it receives
A banquet from those berries waiting there.
Snap, gulp! It eats them whole. But when fermented,
Those berries make our little gray-tailed friend
Intoxicatedly disoriented—
A comedy I highly recommend.
You really haven’t lived until you’ve seen
A plastered catbird weaving on the green.
—Henry Rathvon