For the first time in my life I've become aware

Of a need which never before was quite so clear

I speak of the bath-tool which only a few use ...

The backbrush ... it's a requisite we need choose



I came to that discovery just earlier on today ...

After being on my back in the hearth as I lay ...

Shirtless, believing it would be easier to wash

Away the soot which covered me right to my tush



But after stepping into shower and soaking awhile

I came out on several occasions to check mirror tiles

But each reflection showed it was quite impossible

To wash off the soot which covered my back in full



For even with a washcloth whipped around behind

There was still an area which was completely blind

And could not be touched, no matter how often tried

For that patch of lower shoulder blade's much too high



So the message is clear, and one I wish to relay here

If you wish to be sure you get all the dirt off below ears

Get yourself a backbrush ... it's the only thing that'll work

For each and every one of us has such an area that lurks



- Tristram



(c) Christopher W. Thomas

7:10pm Wed. Dec. 2nd, 1998