A Bag of Junk and Garbage

by Marc Mangel

 

As beauty is in the eye of the beholder —

or at least some poet said

so is the value of junk and garbage

and if those eyes

are not yet five

then valuable indeed are junk and garbage

 

And a big blue bag of junk and garbage

could there be a bigger joy in all the

world,

except perhaps a big yellow bag of it

 

Ah, among the many sadnesses

that we must face

is that parents

sometimes cannot tell the great value

from worthlessness

cannot know a big blue bag of junk and garbage

from a bag of trash

plain and simple

 

But do not fret

They — these foolish parents — may make a

mistake now and then

but if you keep on them

they can learn

I tell you they can learn the true value of junk and garbage

 

(Context: A valuable bag of j&g belonging to Bethann went missing)

10 February 1982