"The Day of the Triffids"
A "B' movie at best, if remembered at all,
But when the screen's images took root
In my ten year old mind, they deposited seeds
That coaxed forth frightening nightmares.
Capable of communicating with each other,
These plants could form packs, co-ordinate assaults;
Walking on their roots like evil Ents,
(though I hadn't made the acquaintance of Tolkien yet)
They would pursue the terrified humans,
Using the poisonous barbs on their tendrils
To paralyze and kill with stabbing thorny attacks.
I would suddenly awake, shaking in silent paroxysms
Of fear until my eyes adjusted to the darkness,
As the shadows that seemed so threatening and evil
Morphed into the comforting sanctuary of my room.
A next door neighbor, knowing of my fascination
With the movie, brought me home a promotional packet.
"Triffid Seeds."
God knows where he'd gotten them.
I accepted them from him with trepidation,
An emotional jacket of fear, curiosity, and pride
In possessing something of great power enveloping me.
It must have been akin to what Pandora felt
When she accepted the ornate box from the gods.
Deep in the woods amongst tall pines, secretly,
I cleared the ground of needles and I planted them,
Perhaps hoping that the dark shade of the woods
could camouflage my lust for power and hide
The evil that I'd sown there.
I'd go out daily to check the progress of the seeds,
Secretly hoping that I'd find their green shoots
Emerging threateningly from the shaded ground.
Armed with a sickle in case I did.
But nothing ever came of it.
Sure, by now I've figured out that they were just
Sunflower seeds, recast as a slick marketing gimmick,
In this case doomed to failure by my not planting them
Where the sun could summon them to life.
Doomed to remain dormant in that sepulcher of earth
Beneath the shed needles of a stand of pines.
Perhaps their failure to bear fruit are as simple
As a young boy's misapprehensions.
Failure to understand the properties
of a gift he'd been given.
Failure to comprehend how best to put it to use;
Fear of the consequences of sowing in ignorance.
