Pandora's Getaway

by Wendy McVicker

You have a box that you carry

everywhere you go.

You forget why,

but somehow you know

you'd better not

put it down.

You're not even sure

what's in it anymore.

You thought it was a toy,

for awhile—a doll.

Sleeping, in that cradle

of a box, maybe wrapped

in pink flannel.

But now you wonder.

No one asks to see

its pretty face, its curls.

It gets heavier, your arms

begin to ache.

It is something

wrapped up, all right.

But nothing you want to touch,

hold in your arms and rock.

Nothing to make you smile

with motherly pride.

It could be time

to put it down and just

walk away. Don't open

it first—you know

what happens

in that story.