A light wooden box,

Notched with darkness.

Each corner has 4 stripes.

Walnut nested in pine.

Uncovered, showing off

Their oil-spill wavy grain.

A tree’s worth of history -

Flattened and smoothed.

A round little knob, to lift the top,

On its golden, nested hinges.

A box.

A craft.

A display of care.

It started with the wood pile,

The careful selection,

The drawn out design,

The effortless first cuts,

The forming of nature

Into 45, then 90 degrees.

Calloused fingers holding the sandpaper,

Asking something hard to be soft,

Something raw to be finished.