Stan the Postman delivered it this morning.
He leapt through the hole in the hedge
With a loud – Da Dah!
I carefully slit open the flaps of the padded envelope
And the thin box slid
On to the newly-polished kitchen table
The box was red plastic
It was disappointing, I have to say.
I was expecting wood at the very least
Or silver
Or maybe a substance not yet invented
And red
Such an obvious colour
Cheap
The box was smaller than I’d hoped
Not tiny – that would have been fine
But thin
Insubstantial
Looking back now
I can see my naivety
Was it really such a surprise that,
as I pushed the small plastic catches
with my thumbs
and the box sprang open,
was it really such a surprise
to find it empty?
