For Jean on Valentines Day

She fetches the bag of compost dry with a hint of moisture,

I bring the ceramic coloured pots and their water trays.

We reach into the bag and grab handfuls of the crumbly earth,

Pour it into the waiting pots through our fingers upto the brim.

She brings some tiny seeds from Asia that promise flowers and fragrance,

I like Marvell before me have naught but Cornish vegetable kernels.

We dib some holes with our fingers and share the pots prepared,

As we drop a seed into the hole and cover them with darkness.

She goes to the watering can and from on high pours life,

As I watch her move with beauty and grace tend these potted wombs.

Over weeks I watch the pots and play my part as saplings peek through soil,

When Im away She takes over and our partnership is strengthened.

For the plants that grow slowly, shyly at first, soon set their second leaf,

Then gradually their stems thicken and multiply adorned with unopened bud.

I realise that none of this was possible before she came into my life,

As the buds open in my mind with fragrance and pastel hues;

Inwardly I am transformed as my life becomes verdant from desert,

They where the seeds of relationship and partnership and love.!

So my advice to one and all on Valentines day is not commercial gifts!

Create a garden where you can both rest in a bower cheek to cheek.