A Ladle and A Spoon
An Imagined Conversation
“I come from the Old World,” said the ladle, “where I have served kings and queens – monarchs all.”
“West I traveled,” replied the spoon, “from prairie to farm houses to the tables of a tavern used to be my place.”
“I have seen grand events of state and sudden revolutions,” said the ladle, “and was stolen once to serve the hungry, begging for a meal.”
“Tea was my highest fare,” exclaimed the spoon, “and my favorite giving porridge for the smallest of the small.”
“To fill the bellies of armies, I was once sold,” confessed the ladle, “and tarnished and worn gave many a last meal before they fell into the mud – and rose into a clear dawn.”
“Felled with lead I poured carefully into molds – and tarnished too – on bitter evenings before what I had wrought found chests to split amidst smoke and noise…”
“West, too, I eventually came, long across waters tossed, to a drawer in a little shop filled with memories to hold many a volume.”
“Numbers they called out for my companion’s fate, as I was a forgotten part of a once grand lot, now alone – with none share what was – or hope for what yet might be.”
. . .
“Time to polish the silver,” called a distant voice from another room. “What should we do with this old ladle and spoon? They’re more than worn and tarnished – the back drawer or an antique dealer for them?”
“No,” said I, “let’s give them a little extra luster this year. Something tells me they have still stories to tell – for those with inner hearts open to hear…”
Finis
D. S. Lamoureux, 2020
Dedicated in memory of a very special Godmother, Paula –
– who knew the way to the “Wood Between the Worlds”