Stark Shadowy Tonic

 

In late summer you are Yellow Crownbeard by name-
     a colony of green and gold.
In winter, Stickweed-
    dry remnants, swaying in the cold air, seed heads chattering.

Why do you stay?

What do you want to tell us?

Do you bring knowledge and understanding to those who appreciate you?

Do you hold a cure for our physical aches?

Are you a metaphor still standing for something unknown in the human world?

I don’t know you but I see you, and I see how you change.

Your once radiant beauty becomes a stark, shadowy tonic.