The Green Plant and Watering Can

The Green Plant and Watering Can

Her green plastic watering can
For her fake, Chinese rubber plant
And on the rubbery pot scrawled: Anne
In the shaking hand of the man
That was all too glad to give the pair away.

And yet, she treasured them not as a topaz,
Though both were green,
But for her they acted as
A reassurance of persistence
Of time.

She cared for them not as a seed,
That germs, and sprouts and grows,
Since even the spark of roses will bud.
But in days the flower goes.

She loved them as most unseen things
That are loved with all the heart,
And between the fingers and her palm
And admire them like folk art,
That never drains of colour
Or dies under the weight of time
And never seems to get duller
As water trickled by and off the balcony
Down.
And splashed.
In time with the clock’s constant ticks.
She loved them in no other way than this.
Without any exceptions or any tricks,
Plainly, without intricacies or vanity
So long as she knew they were there,
Echoing the clock’s constant ticks.

So long as they reminded her of her son,
But unlike him they never went
And stood there ever faithfully
As her body under the push of time bent.
They were always there,
On the windowsill tucked away from age,
To meet her loving, aging stare.
They never died and never failed
Over the windowsill, she nailed
The plant, the can
With her own hand, before
She was gone.

But now she’s gone and nothing more
And the can and plant stand by the door
Of a charity shop.
No more no less, just green, rubbery, fake
And priced accordingly.
They’ve had old age polished all away,
With the cloth of the man dressed all in grey
He’s polished her name away with all dust and grime
And now they are priced at no more than a dime.
Too cheap for what they meant to her
But too expensive for anyone to buy them,
If anyone even wanted them.

Author Notes: Hello, everybody! I am a new poet and writer and I would love to hear what you think about my work, experienced writers, critics, and just literature-enjoyers. Thank you, hearing advice and reading reviews is really helpful! Feel free to hit the review button and please just leave me a couple of lines on what you think about my work so far!

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