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Mannikin Pis: Brussels
PIC A THEME
offered a 'Weird Statue'
Mine isn't exactly weird but it was intriguing at the time.
Why had the postcards been preserved?
WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT IT!
It's not really in my nature to post a shot like this;
You could say I'm modest almost to a fault!
But this funny little statue takes me back into my past
To a time and place of quite a different sort.
I refer to the nineteen-forties which were very, very staid
And my Grandpa who was never heard to swear;
Both he and Grandma were 'upright' as many were back then,
And this rectitude was often hard to bear.
He was a really jolly man, but the times were so restricted
That he felt he always had to be correct,
People worried what the neighbours thought and were good at keeping secrets;
In fact I'd say that they were circumspect.
Now my Grandma had a 'front room' where we hardly ever went;
It was kept all neat and tidy 'just for best'.
It wasn't called a parlour but it really felt like one;
If we entered she was certain to protest!
In the 'front room' was a fireplace, with two stools on either side;
They were square and finished with a leather trim.
I discovered they were storage boxes, holding this and that!
With bits and pieces piled up to the brim.
One day I crept inside the room to do a little prying;
I suppose I was about thirteen or so.
And I looked at bills and cuttings that were really very boring;
Just ancient 'rubbish', so I delved down low.
And up there came some postcards, a whole book of them no less!
They were such a startling thing for me to see!
A whole array of postcards of just one little statue;
The one you see above! The 'Mannikin Pis'!
I never asked about them; that would have been unwise;
They'd have labelled me as wretchedly uncouth,
For the world was very different in those days of long ago,
In the mealy-mouthed days of my ancient youth.
But I never looked at Grandpa in the same way after that!
( I never considered Grandma, strange to say!)
His 'naughtiness' intrigued me, yet it fascinated too.
And I am still bemused by it today!
My Grandma features here:
2 comments:
Nice! We used to call this statue Brussell Sprouts!
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