Grooly lived in Barnstable
with a car, a cat and a mouse

From the place in the park
Where his true love left him
He picked up a leaf as a souvenir

Soon the leaf became his friend
He would put it beside him on the sofa
He would talk to it

Man’s best friend is a leaf he said
He kept it behind the statue of Beethoven
He wrote “sonata for a leaf” for it

Then one morning he cried
His leaf had a hold in it
He touched it and it broke into pieces

He placed the pieces around the potted cactus
In time he forgot about them
That year the cactus grew a flower for the first time