To all the different places
The cumbersome box of memories came along
Pictures old and older
Some bent, stained, or torn
Some were cut to fit a tiny beaded frame
That once proudly sat on a vanity, a dresser, a nightstand
A badge of love and friendship
Forever, we said, we wrote on every letter
Letters we would exchange so we’d always be talking
Stickers on notebooks of correspondence
On which were stamped our names in fancy colored letters
A notebook from each friend
Several notebooks from the closest
The pages have only been flipped through the years
Their contents never important enough to reread
But cherished enough to never be tossed out
It was proof of our history
We once mattered to one another
A shoe box wrapped in shiny paper
Safeguarding the person’s letters that wrote the most
Or perhaps that wrote the longest
But surely will never write again
Ribbons, medals, contestant numbered badges
Each from a day that was once very important
But not one ended up shaping the future
Like they said it would
I really must question
Is this all that’s left?
That must be why it stays
Their faces, their laughter, their voices
Echo in my mind
But it’s sad really
That forever ended with time…
