Saturday, November 27, 2010

Who Decides the Winners?

I am in a big holiday fair this weekend. I got into the fair by competing for a spot. And all of us are now competing for the attention of those coming to the fair, and for the precious dollars they have to spend.

I had not thought to enter this week's Magpie event until I went this morning to see the prompt and read some of the poems and there was this old "loving cup" trophy.

Why did they call them loving cups? Per Wiki a Loving cup is a shared drinking container traditionally used at weddings and banquets. It usually has two handles and is often made of silver. Loving cups are commonly used as trophies. They can be found in several European cultures one example is the Celtic quaich.

Winner?


Such loving friends until that race
The trophy given
Pride of place on the shelf
The friendship the loss.

The loving cup
Once polished
And treasured
Left to tarnish in an attic box.

The friendship broken
Molders in a corner
Of my mind
I would have rather lost the race.

J. Binford-Bell
November 2010

6 comments:

  1. A beautiful poem, but oh, the irony of a 'loving cup' coming between friends. I too would rather keep the friendship and forgo the trophy... but I can't help wondering - can true friendship be severed by a trophy?

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  2. I really like this. It makes one think about what has real value and what is (quite literally, perhaps!) rather empty.

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  4. Sometimes winning turns to unexpected loss when envy sets in. Then one has to wonder if the loving cup was ever trully shared.

    Like this.

    Removal was due to a typo which changed the whole comment!

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  5. lovely tale,
    true, winning is hot, yet there is only one winner, lots of efforts and sentiments are involved upon each game..

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I appreciate all kind comments on my art and poetry.