“I was a dandelion…

A few saw the beauty in me,

And quietly stooped to admire my innocence.

Others saw me as something that was unworthy,

And that needed to be erased.”

Nicole Bailey-Williams

As I’ve been walking about as the weather finally warms

I have been horrified again, by all the ‘Paranoia on Lawns’

I can’t even count the number of neighbors on ‘Weed Patrol’

God Forbid, yet another despised Dandelion, peek out at dawn

My neighbors frantically rush about, with spray cans and tweezers

They all very energetically spray, pluck, spray, and then, spray again

The billion dollar pesticide and herbicide corporations, are all ecstatic

America’s truly obnoxious addiction to toxic chemicals, will never end

I have refused to use these extremely noxious weed killers for many years

So, of course, many of my neighbors are already in a panic, and outraged

I’m getting nasty looks, irate telephone calls, and yet once again, ridicule

“My God, how the hell can you let your lawn go to hell like that, these days?”

When I try to explain to my neighbors what’s in those spray bottles and cans

They look at me as if I’m a vile unwanted space alien from a primitive galaxy

Then I tell them that I wouldn’t even let my dogs walk around on their lawns

Yet, after massive ‘spraying sessions,’ they let their kids romp there, with glee

And so very sadly to me,

The now despised Dandelion,

Is an important flowering plant

For America's dying Honey Bees;

Yet so many today still can’t believe,

That they, too, are now, all vanishing,

From the Land of the Chemically Unfree

©A Toxic Spring Morning 2013, Mr. Ed