To Fungus from Alga - A poem by Mollie Caird (1922 – 2000)
I had thought we were lichen,
Symbiotic, a wonder,
Two creatures, one life,
And dead if asunder.
Lichen is multiform:
Long-hairy, small-grainy,
Braves ice-caps and sand-dunes,
Climates torrid or rainy.
Its colours astonish:
Sea-green, scarlet, gold.
Slow as granite it grows
And is almost as old.
Fungus dead, bloodless alga
Might linger a week;
So what monstrous fate
Makes me nature’s worst freak?
Long ago I thought lichen
True symbol of bliss;
That poem ― unwritten ―
Would have differed from this.
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