Sara Dailey

Viscum Album

Is Latin for mistletoe,
Which holds the apple, the cypress, the juniper,
Avoids the oak.
Causes desiccation, that fatal drying up,
As roots delve inside.

Mistelto, from the Middle English,
Parasite revered by men,
Cure for a rheumatic knee.
A fist of green leaves and white berries,
Beneath which the lips of lovers meet.

I slip my hand down your back
To feel you breathe.

Misteltan, basil twig, golden boughs~
Held sacred be Germanic tribes,
Propagated by birds in flight.

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Sara Dailey lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.