THE ANTIQUE
She had recognized it through the over-paint of dirty brown,
And so on and on.
And so on and on.
Then she fluttered to the china closets,
On fire to show the stranger each treasure:
The inkstand Daniel Webster had owned,
John Adams' queerly curving lamp,
The Lafayette pitcher, the blueglass lamp and box,
The red and black English ware found in a German hamlet,
The Dutch molasses jugs, the Bavarian peasant crockery,
Spanish pitcher, Chinese bowl, Bennington tiles,
The self-righteous samplers on the wall,
The upright clock, the fourposters, climbing to the low ceiling,
That had been her grandmother's,
Aunt Sophie's chest of drawers, the colonial sideboard,
All the while keeping up her excited chatter,
Giving reiterated details of every piece,
And so back to the antique
Where we had started.
On fire to show the stranger each treasure:
The inkstand Daniel Webster had owned,
John Adams' queerly curving lamp,
The Lafayette pitcher, the blueglass lamp and box,
The red and black English ware found in a German hamlet,
The Dutch molasses jugs, the Bavarian peasant crockery,
Spanish pitcher, Chinese bowl, Bennington tiles,
The self-righteous samplers on the wall,
The upright clock, the fourposters, climbing to the low ceiling,
That had been her grandmother's,
Aunt Sophie's chest of drawers, the colonial sideboard,
All the while keeping up her excited chatter,
Giving reiterated details of every piece,
And so back to the antique
Where we had started.
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