| Dancing Dust |
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| Poems by Mollie Caird (1922-2000) |
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| Lichen |
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To Fungus from Alga I had thought we were lichen, Symbiotic, a wonder, Two creatures, one life, And dead if asunder. Lichen is multiform: Long-hairy, small-grainy, Braves ice-caps and sand-dunes, Climates torrid or rainy. Its colours astonish: Sea-green, scarlet, gold. Slow as granite it grows And is almost as old. Fungus dead, bloodless alga Might linger a week; So what monstrous fate Makes me nature’s worst freak? Long ago I thought lichen True symbol of bliss; That poem ― unwritten ― Would have differed from this. Undated. post 1984 |