Dreams and Fantasies

Neatly arrayed on a shelf
for pre-auction viewing
strangers assessed, vetted
admired or walked
disinterestedly by the
collection of porcelain
slippers, someone's fond
obsession with such trivia
finding within them
fables so beloved of girls
and women anxiously
awaiting the discovery
of their uniquely irresistible
attributes, to captivate a
princely suitor eager to cherish
the very ground their slippered feet
lightly grazed. Did their owner
depart this mortal coil
an undiscovered Cinderella?
Do those slippers, exquisitely
detailed and lovingly regarded
represent her broken, unrealized
dreams; up for auction to the
highest bidder, anxious to 
confront destiny on their own?