The Cadence of Nostalgia

In the introduction to Magic Words: A Dictionary, we note the powerfully evocative lyrics of Hoagy Carmichael—musical, magical words that conjure the listener's yearning for simpler times. The playwright Jonathan Caws-Elwitt whimsically combined those bits of nostalgia into a sentence of his own:

Down by the old mill, moonlight spills like buttermilk on a Wabash veranda, while possums feast on rhubarb 'neath the sycamores, as if tucking into watermelons.

P.S. Oleander.