Gold pocket watch clasped shut
sits unnoticed.
Dust dims its luster,
unseen though visible
on antique store shelf.
Faded smiling visage
carefully snipped
by someone’s loving hands,
nestles inside the old time piece.
Exactly fits within its rim.
Opposite those softly staring eyes,
wire hands mark five till twelve.
No sound. No movement.
Dead in time past.
Someone’s treasure cast aside.
Posted for dVerse, the virtual pub for poets, where today I am hosting Open Link Night. Folks can post any one poem of their choice: no particular topic, prompt, form or length. Pub opens at 3 PM Boston time. Come join us!
lillian the home poet 
Just beautiful Lillian. Thank you. Pub sounds like fun, may it be a huge success. All my best to you.
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So nice to have you back, Lillian–thanks for hosting. Time as a prompt is always fascinating; great job with it. You had me at /unseen though visible/. Amazing how you joined in some of the prompts while you were in Japan; smile .
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It was a trip of a lifetime. I didn’t have much time for writing…other than the “diary/journal” with photos that I post on Facebook. I don’t use FB much…but always do to to keep track of our journeys…and then we use it later to create our photo/diary book from. I always warn FB friends/contacts that there will be much text and just to scroll through..😊.
It’s good to be back although the jet lag is hanging on!
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I love this… so many things have a life being treasured just to be forgotten afterwards… maybe the timepiece will find a new owner though…
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I was motivated to write it by a beautiful, delicate, very thin gold locket I have of my grandmother’s. Inside, on one side is a photo of her – on the other side, one of my grandfather …. both are very very young. Old black and white photos cut to exactly fit within the rims. I’ve showed this locket to my daughter and granddaughter many times to insure that when I’m gone, they will treasure it as much as I do.
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I wonder at the stories this watch could tell. If onky someone would have it repaired so its heart can beat again. Welcome back. I hope you enjoyed yourself thoroughly!
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Thank you, Toni! Did you read my comment on a previous poem you wrote…I think one from Toads….about me thinking of you when I saw the tomb of a famous Tanka author and a memorial to Basho?
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I’m delighted to read your words again. Lill, after following your Facebook photos while you were travelling. Did the image inspire you to write the poem or did you source the photo afterwards? It’s a long time since I last saw a pocket watch, my great grandfather’s, when I was a child. I love the idea of finding a picture of a smiling face inside a pocket watch. I wonder why the hands stopped at five to twelve; and was it midnight or midday?
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I have a very delicate and thin gold locket of my grandmother’s…on a very delicate gold chain. Inside is a photo of her, and on the other side, one of my grandfather. Both are very young in the black and white photos and the images are cut to exactly fit within the rims. I’ve showed this to my daughter and granddaughter a number of times to insure that when I am gone, they will also treasure it….and whenever I wear it, my granddaughter always asks me to open it.
My husband, on the other hand, realized a few days ago that his grandfather’s pocket watch has somehow disappeared….perhaps in our move to Boston in ‘97…he never used it but still treasured it. I think that’s what motivated the poem. I found the image after writing the poem.
Intriguing question about whether it was noon or midnight when time died.
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The carefully snipped photo that fits perfectly in the watch says so much. Beautiful timepiece on a timepiece.
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So glad you enjoyed!
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A beautiful write Lillian, so many stories in this watch and the softly staring eyes xxx
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Than you! So glad you enjoyed.
I have a delicately thin, very old gold locket of my grandmother’s, on a very delicate gold chain. Inside on one side is a photo of my grandfather , and on the other, a photo of her….both when they are very young. They are cut to fit inside the rims exactly. I’ve shown them to my daughter and granddaughter to insure they treasure them as I have. My husband, on the other hand, suddenly realized about a month ago, that the pocket watch of his grandfather has disappeared. That’s what “brought on” this poem
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As I read this, am thinking of a metaphor to describe those lives, put away, by other family members. Awaiting discovery, from the younger generation that never came,
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Exactly…or the younger generation that didn’t understand who the people were, or were never introduced to those antique treasures and so, not realizing their connection to them, just saw them as clutter and gave them away or put them in a yard sale etc.
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That was a good place to put someone’s picture.
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What a lovely piece, both the watch and the words. Welcome back!
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Thank you!
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I like this, especially “dead in time past.” Reminds me of the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast, when the castle froze in time. Well done, and thanks for hosting in the midst of jet lag! 🙂
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Thanks so much. I used to frequent antique shops…especially the dusty kind where you can really wander and touch and pick up the items. I was always enthralled with those very very old heavy photo albums that had black and whites of people with, mostly, unsmiling faces….and wonder how someone could just toss them. Someone who perhaps had no clue anymore who the people were? It’s why I’ve created a written document that identifies old relatives in the photos we have…some of them very old of my a-good-number-of-times-removed relatives so our kids can at least make an informed decision about them once we are gone. Oh look at me….getting all nostalgic. Must be the jet lag!
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This is so lovely! Memories sealed in time. Welcome home!
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Thank you!
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Welcome back Lillian. How fascinating to have that gold pocket watch and imagine what had happened. Dead in time past, but for someone else, that watch has value.
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Exactly. I rarely go into antique shops anymore…but when I do I find myself wondering how some items came to be there….what memories they hold….who played with that old toy and who held those very old photo albums that at one time were so treasured as a connection for someone to their past generations.
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Intriguing watch with portrait, full of nostalgia…I enjoyed the photos recording your journey too!
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Thanks, Lynne! I often wonder, when I’m in an antique shop, about the stories behind some of the items there. Especially those very old photo albums….who gave them up and who do these people in the old black and whites “belong” to.
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Oh, yes…the stories those artifacts could reveal!
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A beautiful trip of nostalgia. I remember the train on the back of the one my father had when I was young.
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a poignant reminder of another’s life … lovely pic, perfect memorabilia 🙂
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I always wonder at the stories old treasures and photos contain. We can imagine, but never really know. (K)
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It seems appropriate that those hands stand still, like the frozen moment in time of the photo facing them.
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Beautiful compact writing, Lillian…..
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Watch hands stopped–time frozen–is such a powerful, memorable image. There are so many stories, too, of clocks stopping at a particular moment, like when someone died.
Lovely poem, Lillian.
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I love the way a simple watch can transport us in so many directions. This was so lovely Lillian 🙂
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What a beautiful write Lillian. As I stared at the watch face I wondered – what in the time and space of the owner’s life might have occurred at the moment the watch stopped, to have caused them to never again reactivate the hands – that frozen instant…
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nice personification. I’ve always imputed so very much historical and sentimental important to so many inanimate objects
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