A friend’s small nephew asked this while watering the garden.
Plants (this fact should be no surprise)
Do not have mouths, do not have eyes.
But if they did (and brains to think,)
They’d wonder how on earth we drink;
They’d see our feet encased in boots
And wonder how we feed our roots.
They’d ask us “Why d’you hide your skin?
How do you let the sunlight in?
You don’t look green: perhaps you’re ill
Or running low on chlorophyll?
How have you grown to this great size
And never photosynthesised?”
Yes, flowers eat and drink, it’s true
Just differently to me and you.
Tom Juniper Poetry 