Honored Place

Honored Place

This tableful of pretty china
Silver Moon dessert plates,
eggshell Nautilus saucers, tea cups
edged with petite flowers of mauve, pink & gold,
an assortment of mismatched flea market finds.

Treasured wedding gifts from long ago,
they graced family tables on holidays & birthdays,
their beauty and charm like the familiar faces
you could count on being there year after year.

Now, separated from their totality, like families
broken and scattered after a matriarch’s death,
here they sit, exquisite relics of an earlier time,
still beguiling, beckoning to be used, admired, 

cared for, despite a few chips and crazings;
to be set gently in a place of honor
as their owner once was, to be seen
for who they really are–elegant, old,
cherishable treasures.

Author: Julie Cook

Photo: Annie Spratt on Unsplash