Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus)
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The day autumn descends
On the northern hemisphere I wander
My favorite trail noticing the autumn colors just emerging.
Native wildflowers abuzz with bees and bugs and birds. Equally beautiful
Are the strangers to this forest, this meadow, this trail.
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They’re beautiful but they’re destructive
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These plants distract wildlife from the sustaining meal.
They colonize our woodlands.
Dominating our disturbed soils left after progress
Moved through. They’re controlled in their homelands
By soil fungus, airborne disease or leaf eating insects
But here along this trail as far as the eye can see they are unchecked.
To that eye untrained they are part of this splendid autumn landscape.
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They are destructive but they are beautiful.
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Cannot stop global trade introducing
These plants to our nature. Cannot
Eradicate the unwelcome guests like so many ants
To a spring kitchen. Cannot stop the birds with a new found taste
From feeding and dropping exotic seeds.
Cannot just breathe and take in the beauty?
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They’re beautiful, but they’re destructive.
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(A Bop Poem)
A Picture and a Poem 