The Gift
I am the ultimate philanthropist
I have a gift for you, for everyone.
In my lottery you don’t need to buy a ticket,
everyone’s a winner. I have free scratch cards
you don’t realise you’ve scratched.
I offer perfect home delivery
No Sorry I Missed You card.
No phone call to make a new appointment,
no online form or tracking
no smart red van.
I may meet you before you expected,
touch your hands, see the family pale
watching through the curtains,
wanting me to go next door, down the street,
anywhere but here
sometimes, a customer
tired of his long wait
runs to meet me, embraces me.
It’s all one to me
or the overwrought seize
a parcel meant for someone else
won’t let go until I take their hand,
lead them quietly home.
others say they have met me,
bribed me with a golden future,
slipped my hand, stolen away in the night,
seen their life unfold, been offered a different gift,
a choice, but I don’t make mistakes.
My patience is legendary
some receive my gift not knowing
what they are accepting
I always find my customers,
though sometimes they escape
for a while, no one escapes for ever.
Mine is a gift you can’t refuse.
We haven’t met, yet.
You don’t know me. I am a chameleon,
a shape shifter, a changeling.
You only recognise me when at last,
we meet face to face.
This poem was first published in Alchemy Spoon.
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