I felt sick, alone and sick,

And so I bought a plant.

He sat alone, in a grubby bucket by the door,

And soon I found myself freely chatting to him

Softly in a whisper first, and then in normal tone.

I knew he needed friends and so I trudged to garden stores

To find the loveliest of house plants in the world

And soon my house was jungle like, filled with greenery.

People worried I’d gone mad as parrots flew from bedroom windows

And steamy clouds would drift from open doors.

But I knew that I had made a world where sickness seeped away

And nature held me in its hand

While everybody round my home, slowly withered down.