If you should take a heavy club hammer
and drive a metal wedge or crowbar
into the riveted seams
of this fin de siècle
square-cornered
thief-resistant
safe
patented in 1898
once the rivets are popped
you should be
at liberty
to peel back a corner of the steel plate.
This was a weakness early recognised by the
determined peterman
so the body can be quickly ripped open
to reach the heart:
Look
a sealed glass jar.
Round the base of the jar is a paper label
with these words beautifully printed on it in large letters:
My Own Boy
Rose leaves kept in closed jars
will retain their scent
for one hundred years
although so dried up
as to crumble
into dust
in the hand.
