Ruby Dock

RUBY DOCK

Introduced!
we used
to say as if in hateful accusation,
with the presumed verdict of damnation.

Ruby Dock came outback in the straw
use in camel's saddle and bridle stuffing, a visitor
in equipage which rock-ripped in falls, in straw torn apart, to blow
at large, to germinate and grow.

Till as far as it knows, its scaly red florets
are native as any of the desert's wildflower scarlets;
as indigenous and normal as everlastings and pussytails,
among which it raises its hundred red-scalloped sails.