A cream tea to live for

It’s the flash of bright sunlight
reflected off a passing car
that stops me in my tracks –
picking out the teatime plate which
-since I’m one of those who motivate themselves
by the ‘reward’ system –
twenty minutes of gardening
have made all the sweeter:

a slice of soda bread, warm
from baking just two hours ago;
spread with crumbly-textured home-made cream cheese
(got it right this time, as much by accident) ,
and spread on this, red strawberry jam;
a slight mound here and there
implying a whole fruit promising itself
in this superior ‘preserve’..
the sunlight shining on its gleaming surface

it’s like those foodie photographs
(and yes, I know, they have to use
shaving foam because of those hot studio lights…):
those photographs in the lifestyle section
which we linger over, but have
already decided long ago,
yes, that’s for me; or, that’ll never be for me…

today, it seems, its perfection
is, for me: for this, heaven and earth were made;
if the gods are to be sought,
they are only to be sought
in the present moment.
Today, they do not fail. Nor I. Nor I.

poem by Michael Shepherd
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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