I took my periodic stroll through the local antique store today.
I stumbled over things and stepped 'round clutter to make my way.
I looked for clocks, found none, but saw many things I could do without,
And those are the things that I propose to tell you all about.
There was an old buggy wheel - I could see no use for that.
I saw horse collars, washboards and someone's stuffed Angora cat.
On the wall was a photo of a Victorian guy glaring back at me.
Also displayed was a chamber pot and a scraggly Christmas tree!
What use have I for a manure fork or hubcaps for a '47 Dodge,
Or a shaggy buffalo robe or shriveled scalps from an Indian lodge?
Displayed were coffee grinders and old Prince Albert tobacco cans,
A portrait of Napoleon and a hood ornament for a '37 Mercedes Benz!
Hanging on a clothes rack was an old soldier's moth-eaten uniform.
I have no need for a hornet's nest that once held and angry swarm.
Though I found many things I could do without, not so my spouse!
She bought a cart full of gimcracks and trumpery to clutter up the house!
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
(c) All Rights Reserved
First Place in Black Eyed Susan's "Antique" Contest - May 2014
Categories:
gimcracks, humorous,
Form: Rhyme
Borne on the wind in the cold valley slipstream,
Carried by rivers on ribbons of ice,
In the pines that sang to the corpse-grey sky
From the earth that drank the blood of Christ;
Comes the spirit of Christmas present and past,
The heart of nature, the stars and wood,
The ghost of a future, extolling rebirth,
The vanquish of evil, the triumph of good.
Stitched in the bird song of red-breasted robins
Suckled by fires of chestnut and coal,
Lit by the glimmer of crystal and gimcracks,
Nursed in the fabric of each living soul;
Come the day of salvation for all that we are
The mercy and goodness with hope reconciled,
When X times the MASS of the weight of humanity
Equals vision reborn through the eyes of a child…?
Categories:
gimcracks, faith, inspirational, life, peace,
Form: Verse