When I was a kid

I had a neighbour named Mark

We were the same age

And we would play together

One Christmas

We exchanged gifts

Except I didn't have a gift to give

How rude of me!

Mark hands me a wrapped box

I start to open it

And it's a slinky!

One of the coolest toys ever

Ever to be made

Mark awaits to see what I say

Being the little b**** I was

I showed absolutely zero interest

I did say thanks

And then bounced

We lived next to one another

So it wasn't a far trek

When I got home

I put away the slinky

I kind of forgot about it

But every now and then

I would hear kids talk about

Slinky this, slinky that

It was a hot toy in the 90s

One day I decided

To see what a slinky can do

To my amazement

Quite a bit!

You can watch

It go down a flight of stairs

Make it go back and forth

In your hands

The one that I was gifted

Was a metal one

So everytime it moved

It would also make

A satisfying sound

After spending hours

Day in

And day out

I started to see the appeal

I started to appreciate

I was thankful

To have this simple

Toy that brought me joy

In the simplest ways

I don't keep in touch

With Mark

And he probably doesn't even know

I think about his gift

To this day

Thank you Mark!

For the gift!