- Elegy for a Lost Pot-Plant
By Catherine Tait
Sweet Orchid of my first-year halls,
Whom I did cease to water,
I watched thy luscious foliage fall
And rot upon thy slaughter.
Now liest thou in compost bin
For worm to feast upon,
Thy murderer laments her sin
And knows she did thee wrong
When first thy tender blooms did grow
And light did catch thy flow’r
Thy petals were with fire aglow
That lit thy gloomy bow’r
So soon did thee those riches shed,
Thy suffering kept mute,
Thou saw’st thy petals shrivellèd
Thanks to the student brute
Yet bravely didst thou soldier on
In your sickly stage of life
Thy leaves at least were still not gone
Despite thy endless strife
No prizes did thy courage reap
When leaves soon wilted too
Upon the ground they formed heap
And rotted into goo
Only as thou Earth departed
Did Catherine shed a tear
Now she grieves, and, broken-hearted
Laments that fateful year
While current charges in her care
Are better lookèd after
‘Ere she kills them I must dare
To mention something dafter
A student house is dim and damp –
A fitting habitation
For lifeforms of a different camp
That thrive on condensation
Green it shares as common hue
With her lost vegetation
It has a fluffy texture too
By way of compensation
An Eden she must now create
But not with flora filled
Mould must she now cultivate
With hope it won’t be killed.
