secret
Used wrapping paper
stuffed inside recycle bins
once contained secrets.
I’m not really into stuff, and mostly I have all the basic stuff I need already:
car, phone, dog, bike, library card, snow shoes…
But what is really fun about presents is the mystery of the wrapped gift.
Whether it comes in a box, or a bag, or a lumpy organic shape with layers
of crooked, wrinkly paper, there is a secret held inside waiting to emerge.
There is some thrill in handing a colorful, bow-laden package to a friend or loved one,
but the real agony, the real temptation and fascination comes from unknown boxes
long-waiting to be opened.
Don’t open until your birthday! Not until I arrive!
It’s not Christmas, Kwanzaa or Chanukah yet
…you must wait.
But now, Pandora is out of her box, and all the mysteries are revealed.
The hopes that new, shiny possessions will keep us satisfied all year are still fresh;
only the paper and ribbons are discarded and old.
Goodbye bows and tissues.
So long foil and plastic.
Your job is over.
Please return soon filled with fresh hope, anticipation and new wishes to be answered.
Missed Connections are filled with good, bad and shiny-new-haiku. Did you write one? Did you find one? Before you flatten those boxes (you’ll be recycling them, right?), email the link to Lovelorn Poets. We’ll preserve those secret-Santa-syllables for all eternity.
