Scarlet Tanager 

by Hokis

When tested,

the answers we were wronged

stick

in the side of our mind

like the seed of a thistle

Carrying around this

parasite with potential,

to be planted in a far away landscape

as nature intended

An invasive species to test

homeostasis

Choose the weed

to be a gift, as

a bouquet awarded to

the finest adventurer,

the Scarlet Tanager

will sense your humbled glory,

swoop to snatch that

thorn in your side, that

fruit of the past

before it hits fertile ground

The parasitic cycle broken

Look upward to

the blue skies of daylight

loyally there on the other side of night, beyond

the condensation of sorrows

where the bright

red goddess of flight lives