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Will you take the money
Or will you open the box?
The sarcophagus where love is
Fashionably blended and re-buried?
The world is a work of money surely?
But mystery persists
The case (or box) remains still undisclosed
Though some maintain it simply holds
More transferable gifts of gain – such as Maggi scientists
Bring of their benevolence – ambiguous at best
There usually is a ‘booby-prize’ –
Pride rides on risk of humiliation –
The plastic picnic set – all yours!
Encased in rainproof Velcro-lite
And not the dove-grey Lamborghini
Bound for picnic sands of Biarritz
According to his nature
Inside diverse phenomena the stoic makes a stand
The audience cajoles collective choices
The gleaming hostess hovers merely for her Equity Card
The box declares all brainwashed by T.V.!
Hare-brained you hear the stoic say
‘Where is the box obtains
To Lasting Peace of Nations?’
In sixty atomic seconds can you Beat the Clock?
‘Had we but world enough and time…’ – a marvel!
To fit square pegs in circular holes
Surely lethal force is justified?
The theatre of war ‘Palladian’ by design
Where no-one dies but waves
‘Goodbye’ from a carousel stage –
Coming around again? It’s a Knockout
And who decides the price of money anyway?
And why is the box not openly transparent?
For you – our viewers at home –
This is tonight’s Star Prize
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Bernard Saint
Illustration: Claire Palmer
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