Chameleons

The morning after never fails
To put last night’s darkness at a loss—
Lichen hiding on the trails,
Mushrooms camouflaged as moss,
Rotting logs with lines like whales

And empty nodes for eyes,
All revealed for what they are
Underneath the mountain skies,
Unlike photographs that mar
The shifting clouds with static lies,

Trying hard to placate leaves
With false descriptions of the air,
Holding science up our sleeves
Like nature’s saving underwear,
The naked beauty’s coy sachet

Where, underneath the latest fashion
The empty planet falls away,
And where our self-destructive passion
Hides behind the skirt’s cliché,
So that panoramas are like clothes,

Covering the viewer from the viewed,
Chameleons completely in the nude.

January 25th & 29th, 2022
Kaiholu