A grey washing up bowl of strawberry plants
Left as a kindly thought by my back door.
The first tenants of my new allotment.
The neglected plot is daunting
But outlines suggest themselves
Like an empty exercise book.
Here there were potatoes. See!
Where someone has piled up the earth
And here, a herb garden close to the shed
Its creaking back a little broken.
Moss covered stalks of fennel and marjoram poke
Through this virus of grass.
Taking over everything
But it will be tamed!
The donor's gift transplanted
where the ghosts of other hands have left their mark
Hands that cared enough to plant in hope
And whispered voices on the rasping breeze
Fly over the open ground.
"It will come right again!"

Location: Great Ellingham allotments

Details oil on canvas -35x45 £375