Personal Choice Volume 2 No.5

The Orange

At lunchtime I bought a huge orange-

The size of it made us all laugh.

I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave-

They got quarters and I got a half.

And that orange, it made me so happy,

As ordinary things often do

Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park.

This is peace and contentment. It’s new.

The rest of the day was quite easy.

I did all the jobs on my list

And enjoyed them and had some time over.

I love you. I’m glad I exist.

Wendy Cope

In the early 1980s I was a teacher seconded to County Hall, working on a newspaper published by the Inner London Education Authority. After I left that job, I regularly met my ex-colleagues Robert and Dave for lunch, often on the South Bank. On the day of ‘The Orange,’ which would have been around 1989, I think we were in the café of the National Film Theatre. I saw the outsize orange and put it on my tray, although I hardly ever eat oranges. The rest of the story is in the poem, which I probably wrote that evening.