Читать книгу Alabaster - Nancy Pietsch - Страница 7

Remission

It started very simply

The lure of things from long ago

A memory of childhood’s gone

Something to be proud of, something to show

We called them collections back then

We hunted all the sales

Bringing our prizes home

Putting up shelves with all our nails

If we had time and money

We’d make a day of our bargain search

Racing from location to location

Some of our best finds were at the church

Many of the vases were of value

Worth more, but we paid less

On the ride home, some were broken

We glued them together, I must confess

The problems started early on

When one of a kind was not enough

We had to have everyone

Then the addiction became real tough

I collected ceramic pots

My sister collected dolls

We hit all the garage sales

We avoided the shopping malls

After years and years of shelving

There wasn’t enough room to house

All the things we gathered

Not even the pewter mouse

So boxes became a necessity

To hold our new found treasure

We had to pack them up

For later viewing pleasure

The boxes grew and grew

We arranged them in piles

We kept on adding more

They soon became walking aisles

We were so pleased because the boxes

Were loaded with our collections

People said, “Get rid of that junk!”

We were offended by these suggestions

They also made rude comments

Like, “Your house smells very musty!”

I told them the advantage of boxes

Saves time on housework, nothing’s dusty

Now it is the present day

We have no place to sit or eat

We can’t have people over

Because we can’t offer them a seat

I’m sure it will all work out

They’ve come out with self-help books

For all of us collectors

Who no longer have empty nooks

The flea market is here, but I’ve cleaned up

I think I’m in remission

Maybe if I sell some stuff

I’d have enough for a ticket of admission

They tell us we are hoarders

I think we’ll still get looks

My sister is up to seven

Now she’s hoarding, hoarding books!