Weed (I See You)

You. I’ve watched you
with them. You’re a weed,
an invasive, a non-native
sucker on the tree of their life
and I see you, see how

you entwined yourself
into the fabric of their life
and grew there impeded only 
occasionally by how shallow
your own roots were regardless
of how high they rose,
and that’s a damn shame.  

It would have been far more fair 
if you’d withered there, stuck on them,
and dried up and turned to twigs
and were then brushed off and left 
in the dust behind them as they
walked forward in light and beauty.

I wish I had something more to say
and I wish there was something more I could do
but some things are beyond fairness and 
justice doesn’t grow everywhere, so instead
I’ll just remind you that I know you’re a weed,
you know you’re a weed, and while in another field
you might have been a lovely bloom,

here you’re just a strangler on another’s vine
and I see you, and I’m not alone.