A Fire Screen for Learning

 

A card table and fire screen combination

a wedding gift to my parents

made entirely by hand

A woven tapestry of an alpine scene

in a wooden frame covered in glass

 

Every evening I would remove it

from its place in the hearth

re arrange it into a low table

on which my school homework was placed

 

I sat cross legged within easy reach

of books, pen, paper and ink

I sat alone in the front room

as the family enjoyed television in another

 

Before me I read Shakespeare´s Sonnets

conjugated verbs and declined nouns in latin

learned about the French Revolutiion

and the emancipation of slavery

 

I compared the Synoptic Gospels

learned Shakespeare and Kipling by heart

Wrote essays and studied my atlas

I read novels to improve my vocabulary and grammar

 

I wrote letters to pen friends

in Germany and Finland

I collected stamps and coins

all assembled on this small card table

 

I was often cold so I donned my dressing gown

I learned the capital cities of the world´s nations

their imports, exports and currencies

I read German out loud

much to the chagrin of my Grandfather

 

Hours, many hours were spent

at this little table

Today, many years later it stands

alone as there is no longer a fire place

 

I love books, those with with hard backs

not the flimsy paper backs

The written word is powerful in its imagery

richer in its beauty and explicit in meaning

 

My fire screen and card table combination

serve as a reminder that learning never stops

A humble piece of post war furniture

a wedding present in a time of austerity

 

It was my stool of learning

my table of knowledge