A Golden Bell

An ancient bell made of gold
designed to hang from a skirt
was found in a sewer
the first artifact of its kind.

It’s clattering sound
still attracts attention
thought to have fallen
on the streets of old Jerusalem.

I imagine the woman to be a teenager,
anything to call attention
to her emerging beauty,
still a child in so many ways

she was chasing
her younger brother
who dodged her this way
then that.

She would have caught him
but tripped on a cobblestone
tearing off the bell
sewn to her hemline.

It rolled into the sewer
to be found
2000 years later
reminding the world

styles and politics
may change
but life goes on
pretty much the same.