Fifty years of dusty odor
first accosted my nose, but then
the sight of your shoes
touched my heart.
Heaped without care
large and small,
plain and fancy.
Shoes that had played,
danced and worked.
White baby shoes,
red toddler shoes,
sandals for the beach,
brown shoes, black shoes,
fashionable oxfords and wing-tips,
heels, with straps, and without.
open-toed and not.
Farm shoes, hiking shoes,
Sensible grandmother shoes.
Walk-to-your-death-shoes.
--Donal Quinn
