SHOES
“You can tell a man by the shoes he wears.”
How expensive his taste and how well he polished them.
I knew him to be a gentleman of substantial means.
His shoes had no laces, he preferred a slip on style of life, over one with ties.
These shoes were warn in boardroom meetings.
And to dinner parties with white table cloth with dignitaries.
He was a man of about my size. An older man such as I.
New, these fine shoes sold for $180 a pair.
Which is more than twice the amount I have ever paid for a pair of shoes.
I found them in Grannies Attic, a charity used clothing store on Vashon Island.
They cost me five bucks.
Now an ordinary man walks in a gentleman’s shoes on special occasions to local cafes and high school plays. I wear them with fond regard for the gentleman who cared for them until he died, a man I knew only by the shoes he wore.
Copyright 4/22/25 by Theodore “Tod” Lundy, Architect