“I know now what I can offer you that no one else can:
complete and utter dependence!”
– Homer Simpson

My hostess, home,
how often I’ve thought
of hemiparasitism
and passed.

Mistletoe can perform
photosynthesis if it wants,
but I work smarter than hard
and the name belies me.

I blame the haustorium.
It was so easy to grow into you
that I cannot now imagine
how I’d begin to grow out.

And what with the nutrients,
I couldn’t imagine wanting to.
I’m a blight, not a bulldozer.
Do you need all those branches?

I spare my leaves and berries
for others, never another.
Without you there’d be no me;
nothing for strangers to kiss under.

It’s all symbiosis anyway.
One needs what they need,
often need to be needed, like mistletoe
when it’s plucked then hung out of season.