"It's only an obsession," said the lady to the gent,
"It's one of life's eternal great escapes."
The jigsaw seller smiled and said, "I've something here for you,
'The Puzzle of a Hundred Thousand Shapes'".
And so it was delivered in a box without a clue,
In pieces without any edge or line;
But slowly day by day she worked and year by year it grew
To a pattern even she could not define.
Never knowing her direction, working blind without a guide,
The break came in a flash the day she saw
Depicted was her room, with herself viewed from behind,
There finishing a puzzle on the floor.
As another thousand pieces quickly tumbled from her hand
And almost on their own fell into place,
So there behind the figure in the picture on the floor,
At the window in the door appeared a face.
The final set of pieces, and the puzzle was complete.
An air of deep contentment came to pa**.
Her life, with jagged edges, lay in pieces at her feet
As she turned to hear the sound of breaking gla**…