on their final
European excursion,
my practical mother
bought me a simple
souvenir from some
quaint tourist shop in
Prague, a capital city,
where she and her
friends shopped
while the husbands
snapped photos –
everyone trying to
capture a memory.
every time i hold
these nesting dolls
i see her warm smile,
accept her gift again
(small enough to fit
my mind’s suitcase)
wondering how she
knew that her first
great-grandchild
(a boy she’d never
meet on this earth)
would ask me with
big shining eyes,
“please play?”
with the painted
miniatures of
smooth wooden
generations each
carrying the next,
blooming with bright
promise of precious
new arrival.
perhaps you consider
it all rather kitschy
but i cannot help but
exclaim over the wee
baby one with kisses.
(These “matryoshka” nesting dolls are a Russian tradition, often made in China and sold as souvenirs in the Czech Republic!)
Written in response to Mary’s prompt, “looking for treasure”, at d’VersePoets.
Apr 10, 2014 @ 17:10:31
I agree the little one would make me smile every time I unearthed her. this is a very sweet piece and obviously holds a precious memory within.
Apr 10, 2014 @ 16:26:20
Nesting dolls are so cool. Would love to have a set! 🙂 Very neat piece you wrote.
Apr 10, 2014 @ 02:54:06
The baby one is especially adorable, I agree. How lovely, the little one’s “please play?”
Apr 10, 2014 @ 02:05:31
our youngest loves them – she has quite a collection
Apr 10, 2014 @ 00:49:59
Wow, what a treasure find ~ The baby one is the cutest ~ How cool that the future grand children will play with them ~
Apr 09, 2014 @ 23:02:45
I think your choice of treasured item/memory is very original; first nesting doll I have encountered out here on the trail, responding to the dVerse prompt. My wife is freaked out by nesting dolls too; wanted to buy her Orca one; but then clowns scare her too.
Apr 09, 2014 @ 21:13:35
I had a nesting doll too… But I think we lost the smallest doll quite quickly… I think my sister had a sari-clad Indian one… 😉 I love how you let the dolls symbolize the generations and let it play out in reality..
Apr 09, 2014 @ 20:06:29
i think nesting dolls are cool…they totally creep my wife out though…always have…its cool to think ahead of future generations and how they would want the stories of those times….