Viper’s Bugloss

Posted on Categories Poetry

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Bees love bugloss blue

snakes do not–they say

it’s a remedy

for their venom, still

Viper’s bugloss could

be their cousin—look

how its red stamens

flicker and feel the

bristle-sting of its

round thick stem and the

leaves, rough and pointed

like long sharp teeth or

oxen tongue. It’s a

witch’s sword in a

taut-rooted rosette

ready to brandish

penta-herb magic.

∼

‘Bugloss’ has Greek origins meaning ox’s tongue. The flowers have five petals, five sepals and five stamens.

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©2017 Ontheland

 

 

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Published by Janice

My name is Janice.  I started blogging as Ontheland when I moved from Toronto to a rural area near Kingston, Ontario in Canada.  Over time I have found myself writing poetry, mostly in Japanese forms, such as haiku and haibun.  One of my deepest interests is the natural world: the joy of it and how we can look after it better.

9 thoughts on “Viper’s Bugloss”

    1. Thanks Denis…that’s an interesting question. One of its many names is ‘blue thistle’ yet it does not have real barbs (somehow it stings though…I’ve felt it). Most sources I have seen place it in the Borage family.

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