Chameleon

(see ‘OHE)

We wake as things anonymous
Populate our garden’s hem,
Watching them adapt to us
As we adapt to them,

Climbing turn by turn
Up from loam and peat,
Shaded by lau’ahi fern
As their cold ascends to heat,

Serpentines as closely wound
As the world of shaded roots,
As dreams shoot up from ground
To heaven’s attributes,

Providing primal forests
In which our small Komodos
Pose like acquiescent florists
For our tourist photos,

Leaping up the yellow nodes
And posing upside down
To guard the miniature roads
Laced around our flowered town,

Inside which a gecko kingdom
Races up low-hanging fruit,
Its raucous jungle copied from
Our garden’s modest substitute.

May 22nd–23rd & June 11th, 2020
Kailua