Dusty Memories

Sepia photographs with sunny smiles,

Cardboard boxes, taped shut, neglected,

Gathering dust, a man's buried trials,

Interred in a tomb that hurt erected,

Old faded whispers and remembered nights,

Forgotten sketches, smoothed and tucked away,

A wedding band, pushed out of sight,

Stacks of letters, the dreams crushed like clay.

A favourite necklace, a music box,

Lingering perfume, a phantom caress,

Memories imprisoned under sturdy locks,

Echoing with love-filled talks that now depress,

Amidst the store of darkened dreams,

He stands, tears glittering in his eyes,

Lost to the images of the past that stream,

The loss, here, he can't disguise,

The man turns and leaves with a heavy heart,

His old life gone, his new has severed ties,

With the mistakes he made, the love he can't restart,

Each time he comes a piece of him dies,

Surrounded by his dusty memories.