Pain in the Grass

Take great care when walking on

A grassy dune or beach

Avoid the spiny sandburs

Is the lesson I would teach

Oddly it is classified

As a grass with flattened blade

The well protected prickly seed

Inflicts a pain I would not trade

To any other person

The one-seeded fruit may look benign

But as a kid the stalk of spurs

Was used like a cat-of nine

By bullies armed with barbed bouquets

A devilish construction

Persecuted mercilessly I was by

Weapons of grass destruction

The biological intent although

Is not to cause one dread

The seeds instead attach themselves

And from there the grass can spread

Food it is for larval forms

Of several butterflies

Like satyrs and many skippers

Just before they metamorphasize

The many forms of sandbur species

All members of the genus Cenchrus

Have caused a many manly men

To tiptoe along the seashells

The last thing I’ll say

I’ve saved for last

Please watch your step

For this pain in the grass