ROOM FOR GIFT WRAPPING

What is there to say
about a room
for wrapping gifts?
The owners demanded it,
an architect designed it,
and my friend’s husband built it:
white walls and wide windows
cabinets of honey-colored wood,
tables and chairs, gleaming floors,
shelves holding neatly stacked squares
of hand-pressed rice paper,
rolls of wrapping paper
arranged in compartments,
rainbows of ribbons
and matching tissue papers,
cards for all occasions,
boxes arranged by size and shape,
tape dispensers and scissors
for right- and left-handers.

Who could want such a room?
Who could not want one?