MR AND MRS R AND THE CHRISTMAS CARD LIST.

Shall I cross them off?

It's twenty years since we last met.

Of course Mr R and I once thought

we were made for each other –

Ah, that heart-stopping moment

by the kitchen sink, when he took off

his spectacles and fiercely kissed me.

But all that lasted less than a week

And what I recall more vividly

Is Mrs R's good advice:

Always plunge your lemons in hot water

before you squeeze them.

One more year perhaps.

- Connie Bensley.

The Twelve Poems of Christmas, Volume Two.