meddlers

phytophthera wrought sudden death to oaks
a cousin of the great potato blight
that fell so hard on rural Irish folks
that half the population took to flight
potatoes' generation time is brief
we can't just plant resistant cultivars
replacing a whole forest come to grief
with laboratory seedlings grown in jars
as spores, they travel light upon the breeze
like rotifers amok on a rampage
the best hope if we're gonna save our trees
may be to find a therapeutic 'phage
the human stain's a plague upon the Earth
destroying species ere we know their worth