Today’s poem

DOUBLE TAKE

That morning as Charlie was sorting his mail A letter stood out from the pile. He cautiously opened it, then all at once His old face broke into a smile. ‘Congratulations!’ he read out aloud, ‘You’ve just had a Premium Bond win!’ ‘Two hundred thousand!’ old Charlie read on And his smile quickly changed to a grin. He wasted no time once the cash had been banked, As off to a surgeon he went. ‘Make me a young man again,’ he implored, ‘No matter how much will be spent.’ So began painful months under the knife: His features, his hair, his physique Till Charlie emerged from the old bloke he’d been To a man at his physical peak! He summoned a cab as the clinic he left Feeling his life was in clover. But as he was waiting there at the kerb side, A passing truck knocked him clean over! Angels awaiting him at Heaven’s gate Expressed most profoundly their sorrow. But Charlie demanded to talk to the ‘Boss’ So it was arranged for the morrow. ‘Look, Lord,’ said Charlie the moment they met, ‘This isn’t too terribly fair. ‘I’ve been a good person for all of my life ‘And I’ve always given my share. Then lo! Came a windfall I didn’t expect. ‘You gave me a chance to regain ‘The pleasures of life that I thought were all gone ‘By making me young once again. ‘But now, of a sudden, I find I’m stuck here. ‘And feel I’ve been dealt a raw deal.’ ‘I understand, Charlie,’ the Lord kindly said ‘I know how upset you must feel.’ ‘Then please Lord,’ asked Charlie, ‘why did you do this? ‘Because of the money I blew?’ ‘Not at all, Charlie,’ the Great One confessed, ‘I just didn’t recognise you!’ robert Ben-nathan,

denham, Bucks.