what's past is prologue...
They were six. Old & grey, they gathered together for the last time as, one by one, their keepers departed. They emerged from sheds, attics, barns & garages. Iron-bound and rusty, tin-lined and dented, paint peeled and scraped, wooden panels ravaged by damp & decay, brass fittings dulled, keys long since mislaid.
Not Wanted on Voyage
, London – Tinsin
, Canadian Pacific,
:- their yellowed labels worn as campaign medals, fluttering, bone-bleached, regimental colours from other times & places – oceans & continents, typhoons & broiling sun, war, peace, loneliness, sorrow, joy, hope...
Once they carried the possessions of a young family on a great journey; later some had done duty in the potting shed or as a work bench; some contained the memories of those years of adventure, and some of people & places from another time altogether – photographs, newspaper cuttings, letters & certificates- this then was the FamilyArchive
.
Dedicated to the memory of my Grandmother,Kate Isobel; who inspired my lifelong interest in the past; would that I could recall all she spoke of; for we cannot know if we do not listen.