Be thou our vision o ruler of all

Let us parse nature into scientific words

viewing the botany in woodlands as we walk

let the latin names of plants

be enchanting rounds in our minds

Rehearsals of our vision in that long sense

training our eyes to recognition of species

units of nature with all their repeatability

predictable kinds adjacent in place

commensals in niches and micro-habitats

that one has the botany for all to define

Be thou our vision, parse nature in kind

Making our eyes see your creation divine

beyond beauty let us mesmerize on life

and think of the world from this growing shoot

a meristem

a production of botany conserved and available

spawn to propagate and duplicate and farm

for the moths and us too. Parse our nature streams,

their visual music into stories too. A myth to educate us

to fluency at heart, keep us with our eyesight

our vision to care for us all, until it is time

from this mortal coil to depart.

Be thou our vision, parse it by heart.

Howard Fox, 14 x 2022