Love at the Garden Centre

At the garden centre early in the morning

Ghosts in the greenhouse float above seed trays

Wendy's at the sprinkler watering and tending

Seedlings in transition welcoming the sunshine of their love

And a yucca it needs tying some topicals are dying

They struggle in the winter like hobos in San Francisco

And a man in Jesus sandals is calculating angles

The symmetry the presentation and the art of irrigation

Pot plant people in beige corduroys

Glide across the gravel path no noise

Latin names of flowers all recalled

In a world of composting and worms

He says I love you my hyacinth foxglove my blue bell

She says you know me so well

At the garden centre in the early summers evening

As the shadows come a calling, they cover up the seedlings

The green houses are locked, and they cash up in the shop

She takes hold of his hand and says beware the hemlock

And then they share a kiss behind the garden wall

And they look into the sunset Thomas Hardy would approve

And their fingernails are muddy as they walk back to the car

It's not 2CV although of course it should be

Pot plant people in beige corduroys

Glide across the gravel path no noise

Latin names of flowers all recalled

In a world of composting and worms

She says I love you my hyacinth foxglove my blue bell

He says you know me so well