Presents

I give you emptiness

I give you plenitude,

unwrap them carefully –

One’s as fragile as the other –

and when you thank me

I’ll pretend to notice the doubt in your voice

when you say they’re just what you wanted.

Put them on the table by your bed.

When you wake in the morning

they’ll have gone through the door of sleep

into your head. Wherever you go

they’ll go with you and

wherever you are you’ll wonder,

smiling about the fullness

you can’t add to and the emptiness

that you can fill.

Norman MacCaig.