Iguana

A young boy, bored by the repetitions
of dig, rake, dig again turns from the plot
where his grandfather grows vegetables,
picks up a brush and paints an imaginarium
across the white-washed wall.
An iguana settles beneath rusting pipework
to guard over the allotments.

It is still there.

The old man patiently turning the earth
remembers an afternoon much like this one,
the creature emerging from the strokes of his brush
in this quiet place where seeds are sown,
where plants and small children flourish,
where a lifetime's memories are made.