We love you, stag horn sumac.

But we love you, smooth sumac more.

Oh, Staghorn, you come from Virginia. You knew Hiawatha in your youth.

But smooth sumac, daughter of this land, we love you more.

Staghorn, you are the spirit of the eastern forests in the Autumn: the sun transendent!

We love you, but your sister’s light is our light.

Her darkness is our darkness, on the scree slopes of our volcanic hills.

Staghorn, we welcome you and celebrate that you live among us, and bring us your light. We rejoice with you. We raise our arms up with you and dance!

But we are the smooth sumac people. Let us be brothers and sisters, for we are all mangoes, yes we are.

And let us love our sisters the poison ivy that is no ivy but is a mango too, for she too is beautiful.

We are all living in the sun.

To be praise is to be praise. How could that not be enough?