Hex Triplet

— an odd sonnet / cleansing spell

Have you nourished a friend into a predator?
Has that friend become your disapproving mother
standing with arms akimbo atop a ladder?
And has that friend plundered your sullen thunder
and replaced it with her pumpkin-colored Mother Hubbard
stuffed with underworld uncles and bucket truckers?

If so, throw a sand dollar into the waves of the Sacred Acre;
barter your young lover — the star-struck cattle rancher,
still daubing ancient red ochre on the cave walls of summer —
for an older, melancholy share-holder;
lie down with the Owl Father for an afternoon slumber,
and awake to find a worm larva clinging to your finger.
That larva is the friend you nourished into a predator.
If you’re reluctant to kill her, get Owl Father to smother her

and let the beneficent planetary transits begin.