Antiques and Curios

Antiques and Curios A collection of Antiques and curios, Covered in dust on a cellar floor. Things once made for a purpose, No longer of use anymore. Record Player with wind-up handle, Once sung out the old Seventy-eights. A music box with broken spring, Film scores of the all-time greats. Gas mask, unused in a chest, A wartime ration book, stained, slightly torn. Hobnail working boots, coal black, Scuffed at the toes, well worn. An old encyclopedia, open at page 12, Dwarf stars, Meteors and Asteroid, The mysteries of our Solar system and a Comet we may need to avoid. Vintage clothes in leather suitcase, Fashionable back in the year. Someone would probably buy them, For the right price, not too dear. Pots and Pans of Copper and Tin, Ornamental handles and lid. Hard to imagine they were ever used, But, by the signs of wear, someone did. A collection of old newspapers, Bismarck disabled and sunk, A periodical about holy orders, The life and times of a Monk. Moth eaten Teddy Bear, only one eye, Tracks for a blue clockwork train. Toy soldiers of lead, standing proud, Down somebody’s memory lane. I began to feel rather intrusive, An invasion of a man’s private life; Never to know treasures keeper, Was he at war, leaving children and wife. An assemblage of curiosities, To move them would feel such a crime. I will leave everything undisturbed, Treasured by someone of the time.