To a layman like me it helps a lot

To know a potsherd is just a piece of broken pot;

To know, behind the talk of color, shade, design,

It helped a hungry aborigine to dine;

To see in this broken bit of clay

A brown-skinned baby, clumsy at his play

Cuffed by a weary mother, and whimpering so

Because he broke a dish a thousand years ago!

Hugh M. Miller