Auction

The house offers its private
life to the public eye with
fruit jars, china pitchers,
‘‘Blue Boy’’ in a gilt frame,
mousetraps, a brass bedstead,
dress model, hot water bottle,
button box, old leather couch,
two sets of stereopticon views
of the Holy Land, a cradle,
steamer trunk, lace scarf—
strange hands claim them
who knows by what need, while
the auctioneer’s hammer argues
the virtues of worn-out things.