Gold flower, yellow flower,
chrysos anthemon, ju hua

Chinese lineage extending
over three thousand years

one of the Four Gentlemen,
frost-defiant autumn bloom

ironic, surely coincidence,
the aliens name themselves

the kris-an-tha-mumm people,
the Eyes and Fists of Law

their judgment deeming us
uncivilized, ill-educated

their remediation program
restoring Earth's biosphere

even as we wither and weep
under their unblinking gaze

so few of us remaining
to dream of a far spring.