Top Shelf

daisiesnfld
daisiesnfld: Top Shelf
.
Closet shelves are for memories
stacked neatly in boxes of old
photographs and love letters from long ago.
I sat down today and began the task of
shuffling through boxes, discarding the
oldest of which I'd long forgotten and
those which still had keys, threw away
their locks.
.
The shelves were dusty, the boxes ancient
but the memories were still there, at least
for most. Those photographs with autographs
held for the most part at least a host. I
kept those, perchance one day I might remember.
Setting these aside, they would rest on the
bottom shelf.
.
Trinkets and mementos, locks of hair
and ribbons and bows, a movie ticket stub
and a receipt to a circus show. A gentleman's
hanky that held my dried tears, the pressed
petals of a rose. Neatly arranged with loving
care in a time I laughed easily and often, and then
donning a winsome smile I leaned back and closed
my eyes..briefly reliving the sound, the touch
the smell even..I would find a place for
them as well.
.
But now the oldest box, quite tattered with age
and yellowed from time I found. At the very bottom
of the closet, wrapped tightly in plastic and labeled
'do not destroy', I cradled in my hands.
All these years, and here he was.
Unchanged, vivid as ever.
Alive to me still. Top shelf.
.
DaisiesNfld
3 years ago Report
2