The Magpie

I am a true, but honest magpie, collecting silver of unusual kinds.

I root around for the weird and wonderful; the gold mixed with silver, the ones which stand out.

I keep my treasure safe in a dark wooden box with tarnished brass handles tucked underneath my bed.

They tell stories of the places I have saved them all from.

A ring of rough cut crystal set amongst an island of silver; my find from a cobbled Glastonbury street when I walked amongst magic bookshops and drunk from the Abbey Well. 

The birds-egg blue turquoise one covers my hand; it had been put in a box, snuck into my pocket to say I love you.

Amber and silver tells an exotic story. Born from the jungles of Costa Rica where I picked out the amber, I chose the mould, and so she was made by a local of the sandy beach.

Elaborate blue-lace Agate with gold-silver swirls brings romance and air from the Cornish coast. Raw, but beautiful, she offers memories of a year of real, young love.

These are the show-offs; the ones who grab stares.

But my old reliables are comfortable - always there.

A Guatemalan street seller sold me three silver bands, all woven together on the third finger of my right hand.

Perhaps unlucky - but a present from my Mum, a tiny silver ring worn on the ring finger of my left hand. The designer grooves have worn off -  it's now almost smooth - but it feels safe when I worry and reminds me of her.

A Victorian fork twisted into a perfect circle, engraved for a Jennie of 1890. A passed-exams present, bought on a bit of a whim, from Covent Garden Market - for fifty quid.

Now for my baby, my favourite piece. The Aesop of storytellers, the charmer of all; my delightful charm bracelet with a heart lock and key. She gets people talking, sometimes strangers too, with her tinkling whispers of who I might be. A pine cone charm for the woods by my home, the key to my heart and a cowboy hat. Tiny shells whistle songs of the sea, with an English rose and a Christmas tree.

My silver holds a story about where I have been, adorning my body like a Persian queen's.

Image from here