I’d rung to check before I went
To get a brand-new document
What papers I would need to bring.
It’s now a reflex kind of thing:
I’ve stood in office queues a lot
And learnt too late that I forgot
A vital piece of paper – so
This time I had them all in tow,
In duplicate, as they had said,
But stupidly I took as read
Two photos also would suffice –
It all unravelled in a trice!
“Five files,” he said “it’s five we get.”
“But that’s the last two of the set.
Though I can find another three
They show a very different me.”
His smile was Cretan, bright and wide
“The files are never side-by-side
So any five snapshots will do
If that is quite all right with you.”
