war and peace

thistles grow up prepared to make war. they bristle and threaten, and make their enemies pay with piercings, blood, and pain. but then when they have mellowed into old age, and their flowers of dynastic purple have faded to a lavender gray, they shed seeds soft enough to stuff pillows with. i like both incarnations. the warrior and the domestic peacemaker. i have a little of both in me.

dried musk thistle heads