Mr Kipling Lemon Slice

White and yellow,

Meadow-like.

They were always in my cupboards.


‘Double packed for freshness’ and then, years later:

‘Single sealed

For freshness’.

I never quite got that one.


Close friends knew where they were kept,

They always asked, or took.

New guests always

Pleasantly surprise.


A sweet routine of after-school

The unpicking of the plastic,


Reuniting tongue and tooth

The icing sharp, the sponge fantastic,


Knowing I spent all my youth

Waiting for that paradise,


A sweet re-treatment of the vice:

The Mr Kipling lemon slice.