Single child family plant

That drunken purchase,
in strip lit Tesco's at four in the morning
made me laugh as you returned with
spiky leaves and naff fake terracotta pot.
It moved houses with us
it's head stuck out of windows of vans
getting wind blasted on the motorway

Bashed and abused,
drunk students poured cider over it
and house mates ashed fag butts and spliffs
into its bare roots

It had three stalks
one taller than the other
and one wee stem
so that we named it the single child family plant

Our relationship sputtered and stuttered
and was finally stubbed out
i claimed the plant
If only cause i had somewhere
to call home
And could shift it!

It bobbed round other flats
saw lovers come and go,
and gradually sickened
leaves browning through neglect
i was terrible at watering it
and then drowned it
in over compensation

When that last hurried eviction came
and i headed west once more
Single child family plant
came with
but got relegated to parents shed
and overwintered with
garden furniture and rats for company

Life flowed onwards
Our summer festival reunion
broke down barriers
and opened new lines of communication
But our plant-
had definitely died and rotted in the shed

My mother ever the green gardener
come spring
pulled it out into the sun
and left it be
So on a recent soft rainy June day,
smoking and talking under the arbor
she pointed at its garish pot

No longer single child family plant
But a vigorous flowering bush
many stemmed
and heady with new growth
has arisen some wind carried stray seed

Out of your spontaneous alcohol fuelled
purchase
comes whole new growth
i wish you could see it bloom!