Monstrous Ingratitude – Boris Parkin

         Gifts as gulfs …
Thought prompted by one
from ice ages ago:
a lime-green cardigan,
a garment I’ve never worn
and never will wear.
I hid it in a drawer
and mainly it stays there,
except when, as today,
on the trail of a lost sock,
I dig it up and feel once more
that sundering shock.

        With kept creases
and buttons still done,
it invariably releases
the same terror as when,
tearing the posh paper,
I saw at a glance
how little she understood me.
Well, I covered my inner silence
with mumbled thanks;
yet the rift persists
and even now
pride prevents me
from trying the thing on, somehow.

Source: Goodwin, D 2002, 101 Poems That Could Save Your Life: An Anthology of Emotional First Aid, Harper.