[TheForge] A poem from alt.crafts.blacksmithing

[Rob Fertner]

Someone going by the name "Phlembol" posted this on
alt.crafts.blacksmithing.
I thought it interesting enough to pass it on.


Closing the Blacksmith Shop
by Violet Edwards-Jones
(for Hanford)

Gentleness, Hey, Gentlemen!
Step right up this way!
Gather close around the shop
For we're selling out today.

Come, now! Who will buy the forge
Where iron and challenger meet?
Think about it seriously.
Can you withstand the heat?

If the forge you choose to take,
Then take the bellows too.
For either taken by itself
Will be of no use to you.

They're companions like my wife and I
Who have labored side by side
To keep the farmer in his field
And our family's needs supplied.

Who will have the anvil?
You say it's old? That's true.
But it's served me well for thirty years
And it'll do the same for you.

With it goes the hammer, too,
For each would useless be
And each would be retired too soon
If taken separately.

How much for the torch and goggles?
More modern symbols they,
Than the anvil and the hammer.
Speak up, what will you pay?

How much for the nails and metal?
For a little coal and oil?
Whoever buys these things today
Must have a will to toil.

For toil is partner to them all,
An essential of the trade.
By strength of will and body
All lasting things are made.

How much for all these smaller tools?
Who needs chisels, pliers, and files?
Search through these other odds and ends.
They're laying here in piles.

No beauty in these things I sell?
All useless junk you say?
That's because to you they're only things.
But to me, of life, a way.

With them I part reluctantly
It's like mourning for the dead.
I thought perhaps I could wear them out,
But, they have worn me out instead.

Each one finds his earthly path
With many a blow fraught.
Upon the anvil of our lives
Our fate or hope is wrought.

---

This was written for/about my grandfather when he sold
the blacksmith shop he had toiled in for more than 30 years.
His work kept many farmers in the fields of SEMO and he
is much missed by many.  I am forever grateful for what he
and my grandmother taught me about the world and the
ethics they demonstrated.

Phlembol