Bone China
My dear ones soon to marry, if you’re able
Do plan good dishes for your dining-table:
Selecting china for your registry
Requires that you do not choose foolishly.
Bone china’s beauty and utility
Embody strength, and not fragility.
As Noritake’s teacup, eggshell-thin
Appears too delicate to hold therein
Hot beverage—know that bone and kaolin
And feldspar-granite make the porcelain
As strong as iron, translucent to the eye
A veritable garden to espy.
The touch, a pleasure, smooth unto the finger;
Clear resonance, upon the sense to linger.
So, pretty stoneware’s soon to chip and craze;
You must be careful to protect the glaze,
But china made of bone can stay unsheathed
And to your sons and daughters be bequeathed.
Mary Gardner is a poet living in Florida.
I still have 75-year-old bone China from my mother to bequeath to my children and appreciate your sentiments so well-expressed.
Bone china is quite beautiful, and its delicacy belies its strength. Sally Cook had some very old pieces, and they were as flawless as the day they were made. “Resonance” is right on the mark — just a tap of the spoon would make them ring.
I am pleased that you like the poem, Roy. How wonderful that you still have your mother’s china!
Bone china appeals to the five senses. Besides the obvious beauty, resonance, and feel, a china teapot and cup bring out the taste and aroma of tea.
Joseph, I love that you and all our SCP family appreciate beauty in all works, not just poetry.
Your poem rings culture, Mary. Good advice in a light tone, about the lasting worth of finely crafted beauty, especially the beauty that may be on display every day at the table, where the family comes together to be silently influenced by it, just as they are nurtured by the food served in it. Maybe on some special occasions they may read your poem and admire its smooth strength!
Thank you for your wise and kind words, Margaret. It is no exaggeration to say the beauty and fine craftsmanship of bone china are ennobling.
What a great topic for a poem – and well executed, Mary.
Thank you, Paul. I am glad you like it.