As I grow older and slowly start to think about my ultimate departure for parts unknown, I feel a sense of pity for my children who will have to figure out what to do with all the things I've accumulated over a lifetime of travel, adventure, and shifting interests. Will anyone want the David Winter cottages? How about the thousands of books? My two chunks of concrete and rusty strand of wire from the Berlin Wall? My dozens of notebooks filled with assorted information, odd memories, and general nonsense? No matter how much it all has meant to me, I expect that my children will shake their heads, sigh, and order up a dumpster.
Today's poem by Donald Hall reflects on the things we accumulate and what will eventually happen to them ...
I'm attached to a lot of things, but none of them are as important to me as the family around which I've accumulated them, which is as it should be.
The Things
by Donald Hall
When I walk in my house I see pictures,
bought long ago, framed and hanging
— de Kooning, Arp, Laurencin, Henry Moore —
that I've cherished and stared at for years,
yet my eyes keep returning to the masters
of the trivial — a white stone perfectly round,
tiny lead models of baseball players, a cowbell,
a broken great-grandmother's rocker,
a dead dog's toy — valueless, unforgettable
detritus that my children will throw away
as I did my mother's souvenirs of trips
with my dead father. Kodaks of kittens,
and bundles of cards from her mother Kate.
Have a good day and enjoy the rest of your weekend. More thoughts coming.
Bilbo
3 comments:
I'm trying to get rid of "stuff". It's not going well.
Very interesting poem and a topic that's been coming up with many people I know. I don't want to burden someone with sorting or dumping my "stuff" but I think that if you have space for it, without being an obsessive hoarder, there's nothing wrong with having it whatever it all is. Hopefully one isn't saving every newspaper for 30 years and every plastic straw...
You could invite the kids over and ask them to choose things they'd like to take. Then when your time eventually comes you'll know they already have their chosen memories and the dumpster need not be a giant size.
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