Today I tried to answer the question- Who is the Bancroft Miniaturist?

 

In my Sister’s mostly

bare and very dark house

is a room

that nobody is allowed to go into

and in that room

are shelves and shelves of glass lined cases.

 

In the cases

my Sister says

are bits of magic

held in delicate hand carved figures

that no one is allowed to touch

and they most certainly are not that for anyone to see.

 

Then what’s the point in having them

I asked, for the billionth time.

 

My Sister said

to me one day,

” Fine go ahead, go on in and touch what you want and see what

is there.”

 

She pushed the door open and took my arm

and before she could push  through I stepped back.

Because

I heard what was in there

and what I heard was pleading and a little screaming too.

 

The voices sounded far away but they were coming from the shelves

and what they were saying was:

 

” I have eyes. I can’t see, why can’t I see anything? ”

 

My sister put her lips close to my ear and said,

” It’s because their eyes are ornamental. ”

 

I left my sister to her dark and mostly

empty house

and the magic she trapped

in glass cases

that nobody is allowed to touch or see.

Inspired By The Bancroft Miniaturist