'Chipped And Cracked Dishes' Poem by Linda Winchell

There are chipped and cracked dishes of Grandma's
she refuses to throw away.
I asked her, 'why do you keep them?
Let's go and buy some new today.'

The cups and saucers don't even match
there are flowers and weird animal prints.
The chips are on the tea cup rims
and their handles give my fingers a pinch!

She claimed they were her Mothers
and her Mothers, Mothers too.
You will never understand it dear she said
until I Will them one day to you.

Now why in all that's holy Grandma
would I want these ugly broken things?
I have brand new, a set of my own
and no pinching my cup handles bring.

She said, it's a part of our histories story
that I am passing onto you.
Like our sinfull selves, those chips and flaws
that God seen to forgive in you.

You may sit and drink and eat on new
if this is what you wish.
God's love reminders come with mine
in every mismatched bowl and chipped dish.

I now have a different way of looking
at those old dishes my Grandma kept.
And will tell the story to my Grandchildren
Of Grandma's chipped dishes that she left.