Dad's pre-computer file box

We all have a tray or container in which to place our loose change when we empty our pants pockets.

Here, we have wooden file box

owned by my father during his high school

and college days.

It is a fine box, mortis-joined.

It was probably crammed full

with just bits of the contents

of Dad's mighty brain,

now reposing as dust

at Arlington National Cemetery.

File cards were not subject to computer crash.

They went another route to oblivion.

As I've studied this box

over several years

I've pondered the jack-knife notches

in the left front cover.

What did they stand for?

^.^

My guess:

they marked some academic achievements.

This box was never parted with;

saved, and now by me.

My additions were the Yibawean Seal,

the tortoise (Dad's eyes were in later years

tortoise-like)

and the compass.

A little dime store but still true

gauge of direction.

Maybe I should not have

gilded that beautifully joined

memento.

It's only original inscriptions

were the notches

and the pencil-written words

on the inside cover:

Leslie Vernon Dix