I watch somebody,

I watch somebody,

Not you

Pot and prune

An overgrown bell-bottom palm

Splitting the plastic pot

A wormy mass of white roots

Suffering constriction

Begging to be free

It was earthy and lively

Even as I was drawn

To remember

You lying in the deep

So far away

How you would have enjoyed

The heat of the day

The smell of compost

The snip of secateurs

I can’t be angry

You have gone

You didn’t want to go

For so long

Before one day you did.

The blessed relief

In your face

When it came

Nightmare free

Peace at last.

Unless for a moment

You were angry

At the abruptness of the end

No last kiss goodbye.

Are you still earth-bound

Tied to it

With invisible string

Keeping you attached.

I can see you now

Potting and planting

Curating a legacy

When nothing ever lasts.

Even hardy perennials

In low-maintenance gardens

Need tending

But not by you

Not now.

Even as I am transported

To a green woodland

Half a world away

Where the bones of you

Deeply lie

Disassembling.

Returning to the earth

Growing into the forest

Reaching for the sky

Brushing the stars to one side

Like falling leaves.

A celestial gardener

The life giver

When I am become

Root-bound.

A wasteland

Of stone and clay.