I found her sleeping on asbestos wrap
Where pipefitters welded the steam trap
Bryum argenteum cushions her paw
She's taxonomy's wildest flaw
Calico crown on a concrete throne
Moss writes the history claims it her own
Three colors map where the rust used to grow
She purrs in Latin that only roots know
Her coat matches lichen on galvanized steel
Orange and black where the rust dots heal
White chest fur like sporophyte caps
She naps in the gaps of collapsed maps
Calico crown on a concrete throne
Moss writes the history claims it her own
Three colors map where the rust used to grow
She purrs in Latin that only roots know
Morning light slices through cracked transite panels
She stretches slow no need for cancels
Polypodium rises on vertical seams
She drinks the dew from the gutter streams
Industrial botanist I take my notes
She teaches me how the wild promotes
No control plots no measured grids
Just instinct rooted where the foundation skids
The ruin blooms where the cat forbids
Rain falls heavy on the corroded deck
She watches droplets on a mossy neck
Marchantia cups hold the sky's grey gift
Her whiskers measure the drainage shift
Calico crown on a concrete throne
Moss writes the history claims it her own
Three colors map where the rust used to grow
She purrs in Latin that only roots know
Years from now when the structure falls
She'll be the queen of the mossy walls
I'll press a specimen label the date
Calico sovereign of ruin's fate
Calico crown on a concrete throne
Moss writes the history claims it her own
Three colors map where the rust used to grow
She purrs in Latin that only roots know
Calico crown let the ruin show
Root and claw write the final page
She sleeps where the steel and sporophyte engage
