OSCAR'S WASTEPAPER BASKET


In Oscar Wilde’s study—pale yellow walls,
Red-enamelled wood— but the wastepaper
Basket was the real treasure trove.

Whether made of brass or oak,
Or adorned with classical Greek scenes;
Hermes of Praxiteles, the Athenian grove.

Rough-draft manuscripts, sale catalogues,
Bits of coloured string. And into this Holy
Of Holies, the Wilde boys would tiptoe in.

Foreign stamps, gold-tipped cigarettes;
All children love to rummage gaily
Through their father’s rubbish bin.

Here, we see the genesis of Dorian Gray.
Surely, this is The Selfish Giant story
That he told us in the nursery yesterday.