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Cape gooseberry car

Now it's for dirt racing my little
red car will be like a Cape gooseberry
enclosed in its metal frame as the yellow berry
rests in its lantern of filigree.

Not touching the sides, a golden bell
and my car a red steady heart. Its
motor is still strong, it has two newish
tyres. And ancient of ancients, it has a choke.

I did not want to hand it on—brave
heart but weakened body—to anyone
who might crash it, but now
in its cage it can crash to its delight

and still hang there, the golden gooseberry
safe and centred, on all sides surrounded
by the beautiful bell-like space
that protects it as it pounds the earth.