Plantation moss
Called Spanish
Alive on live oak trees
Apparent symbiotic relationship
Held in esteem as
Symbolic of deep, Old South
The moss is not Spanish
It is not even moss
The oak trees take:
One hundred years to grow
Another hundred to live
Plus one hundred to die
We, as a country:
Grew for one hundred years
Have lived for another hundred
Are we using the next hundred to die?
Like much in life
Things of perceived value have a worthless epithet
When reality asks to be recognized
We play with falsehoods
Until they become the “truth”
Symbols can be good: truth is good
Will we keep calling “our moss” Spanish?
Can we wake up to truth
Or be blinded forever more
And left to perish in our own ruins?
Stanski
January 17, 2020 ^
Steve Haarman 