We Need Eggs - A Poem by Behrouz Saba

We Need Eggs

The little cherub with golden hair
In a blue dress to match her eyes
White shoes and lacy ankle stockings
Reached up easily for the handle of the glass door
To the refrigerated shelves
And swung it open, enjoying the smooth action
Then closed it
To savor the conclusive sound.

Her mother pushed the shopping basket forward
Motioning for her to follow
I need eggs
The angel cried
We have plenty of eggs at home
Her mother said
I need eggs, I need eggs, she said
Tears welling up in her eyes as she
Followed her mother.

They were rounding the corner when two tall, elderly men approached
One telling the other
We better stock up on eggs
In the tone of one who had inside information
About a long and loveless dearth of eggs soon to come.

She turned up later at the checkout stand
Feet dangling from the basket
Mollified with a ride and a banana
But obviously not for long.

As she must carry the consumer's ghastly burden
Wanting and needing her lifelong pursuits
To keep robust two-thirds of the world's largest
economy.

I need eggs, I need eggs
I once again hear her cries at the day's end
Bitter, sardonic cries of protest
For she realized that she is forever condemned
To demand what she doesn't need
To turn a blind eye on her unbounded angelic riches
And her best human instincts
Which preceded packaged goods and credit cards
And she is destined to lose
Long before reaching the old men's age.