Mimosa pudica

mimosa pudica-- 
"if you touch it, it dies," 
said my student once 
another called it 
shy-old-lady 
from her Jamaican grandma 
in Sierra Leone the Mende called it 
shut-thighs 
this timid plant is a tenacious invader 
throughout the tropics 
and is very human in Latin-- 
where it is named for 
imitation and shame