Image: Dana: Foot | (CC BY 2.0)

Pardon

(For Parents)
Blame the passion
that shook
the loins
of the sire, the ague
and ache
whipping the leaf
to tailspin
down
to compost
— blame the wind,
not the plant:
the purposeful squiggle
of life, latching on
octopus-armed,
rather than
the throes of loss,
of innocence
— the desire
to live,
not give —