A bull walked into a china shop down my road today

In and out at first, then acted like he was there to stay

Looked at some of the invaluable pieces there for sale

Then he backed roughly into a counter, waving his tail



And some of the more fragile, delicate pieces came down

Shattering into quite tiny fragments as they hit the ground

The store manager looked aghast at the mess on the floor

And then ushered the bull out, and quickly closed the door



Fretting - he wondered why the bull bothered to set him up

Was it just so he could make fun of him and laugh, and cut?

Or was the bull serious about his interest in all of the pieces

If so - then all he had to do was be serious, not put creases



In the carefully crafted merchandise which lay on the shelves

Waiting for browsers to savor the quality and then ... not yell

And curse about the price tags which he'd carefully drawn

But to say - fine ... then let's do business and let's not yawn



But the bull did not do that - instead, he took the man by HIS horns

And then backed into the counter, probably cutting himself on thorns

Or perhaps - upon the pieces which lay shattered all over the place

And now the manager got down on hands and knees as he braced



Himself for the inevitable onslaught of new customers coming to see

The mess the bull had made because the man had no rules about fees

And so he considered putting up in the window a really large sign 

Which would indicate his preference for no haggling over his fine ...



Pieces which lay on the shelves all around, with a Net protecting them

From dust and bugs which tended to abound, with fine cloth unhemmed

Which did not mark the pieces with lines to hurt or produce colouration

Something the store manager had been careful to do right from initiation.



- Tristram

4:30pm December 26th, 1997