Wild and tough
Tenacious roots
Holding to life
returning unwanted
Year after year;
Season after season.

Ugly drought resistant beasts
Choking life from
Delicate nursery bred children
Bought at Home Depot
Draining bank accounts.

Sorry dandelion and poppy.
Your lovely wild cousins are exempt
From these insults
As are you.

What child doesn’t
Hate Weeds—
Crawling around
Pulling the wiry beasts
From the earth,
Ripping  their guts out
So grass can grow among
Delicate, thirsty creations
Drinking,
Always drinking
During droughts
Sucking up chemicals
that pollute
Rivers and oceans.

Weeds don’t do that.

A child dreams of tossing baseballs;
Riding bikes;
Avoiding ice-cream trucks;
Watching television;
Surfing the Internet.

Pulling weeds sprouts
As nightmares
To a kid.

Today, at sixty-three, sitting on the earth
Soaking  sun
Basking in sustained silence
Listening to wind speaking
Softly through trees,
“Love me, love me”,
Giving excuses to get outside
Away from stuffy, tainted air.

Welcome back seasonal pests.
_________________________