History Lesson

Things are quiet at the auction house,
and you are nearly alone
with the remnants of a stranger’s life.

Everything here, the art, the pots and pans,
ancient oil lamps and oriental sculpture,
tells a story, or at least,

part of a story, the part shown,
or left after family has taken
their own treasures.

Each item a fragment,
a puzzle piece that,
instead of coming together

are about to be sold,
one by one, scattered
until nothing is left

of this museum,
except dust on the floor.

Is it lost, this auctioned life?
or is it a miracle as each precious
item begins anew,

in someone else’s picture puzzle life,
scattered like dandelion seeds, creating
beautiful weeds, again

and again.

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The picture was taken at Townshend Auctions, a place Rona and I have been to many times over the past several years. You can click on it for a larger version.

Tom