Poem:"Speak Down the Centuries"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem came out of the June 9, 2009 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from dianavilliers and sponsored by janetmiles.

Speak Down the Centuries

There are garbage dumps and rubbish heaps,
junk drawers and corners of closets,
filled with useless things
that are interesting to look at:

arrowheads and broken beads,
pot shards, spindles, buckles,
paper clips and pencil ends,
messages to people no longer living here,
plastic animals, tiny red wagons, rattles,
dead batteries and computer chips,
even a mouse-sized motorcycle.

They jumble together like space junk,
accreting and dispersing,
teasing the eye with hints of meaning
that never fully materialize.

These are the things that hold civilization together,
the odds and ends of life that have meaning
only to their owners - and yet
they are the things that speak down the centuries
to those who come after.

It suggests
that the Universe
is the junk drawer of the gods.