When did they bury you?

Why did they leave you?

Did they hope to enjoy these remembrances

In their old age?

Or did they leave them behind –

Disappointed, dispirited by what was past?

Or did they want them to overflow into

Other lives?

 

A well-bound, well-read book,

Out of print,

Of no current value —

Except in someone’s memory?

Simple pictures, simple words, simple childhood

Of bright days — never night —

Outdoors on clean suburban streets

With pets and siblings

Running and laughing and staying clean:

A story few children live anymore.

 

A metal decoder ring,

Splattered with patina:

What secret message does it hold?

Here’s one mystery left to solve:

Once found for free

In boxes of cereal or kool-aid

Or cracker jacks.

Now worth hundreds on ebay.

 

A pressed carnation,

Plucked from a corsage to remember –

A wedding? A prom? A graduation?

Time frozen and fragile to the touch.

Are the memories as faded as the flower

Or is there still a fragrant joyousness

To be found?

 

Tobacco leaves wrapped like a gift

Inside a linen handkerchief.

Tied with a bow:

Too large for cigarettes,

Were they taken from a cigar

Or bought for a pipe?

The linen could not save the aroma

Maybe the ring can decipher

It’s secret?

 

More memories flow out

From this box of memories.

More mysteries with each one.

Did they want to leave you behind?

On purpose or by chance?

Did delight become regret?

Did they leave it here for me to find?

Did they know someone

Would need to find evidence

of family

of blissful love

of simple lives

overflowing?