Monotropa

She
was monotropa,
and he
came in and colonized her roots,
enticed by her whispers
of sweet blissful mutualism,
and never have sweet nothings
been so accurately persuasive.

For she
twirled his hyphae
around her finger;
pulled him tight and nestled him close
with protein promises poisoned;
saccharine elixir turned to vapor,
clouding his searching vision
and severing the heartstrings he’d planted
in her soiled soil-less heart,
consummately consuming his efforts –
Maneater, Black Widow, Achlorophyllous Charlatan.

But he
lived
for her enchantment,
cross-eyed star-crossed,
plaguing her in return
with parasitic guilt
over the lifeblood she lapped from him.

He
was her Sisyphus.

And together
they form Oroborous;
Consumed by each other
but never devoured.