there’s a bit I do on x-mas—
buy little stone & wood things
and put ‘em
in a small bag

tell the co-workers to
rummage around in
that bag
feel, stroke
the goods
and choose
one

out comes the little thing:
heart, egg, turtle, bead, angel

one of the doctors put the heart-thing in his
mouth, thinking
it was candy

one of the nurses
held the heart to hers

the eggs, beads, and angels
brought ahh’s and ohh’s

the turtle-thing
made folks laugh

and I smiled all the while
holding my x-mas bag
of simple things