Tuesday 14 September 2021

The Box

by Nick Gisburne



The box is buried, far beneath the ground
A relic from a long-forgotten war
No others from its time were ever found
Untroubled for millennia, or more
A secret from a city, long destroyed
A record of a time we never knew
Imagine how this knowledge fills the void
The darkness of the past, pulled into view
The seal, the stamp of government, is clear
Its owner must have known he could not live
What treasures, ancient, rich and rare, are here?
What knowledge did he take such time to give?
    The only thing the bombs did not destroy
    A photograph. A mother, and her boy