Memory Box – Anne Carley

Almost everyone has one of these somewhere. Admit it.

Today I opened up the memory box
It had been packed away upon a shelf
The memories jumped out at the chance
To live again, rejoin the dance,
The box regained its empty self

Can’t say what took me to the memory box
I read some letters that were folded there
People’s faces, all at once,
Rose up to battle on all fronts
With pent-up energy to spare

The memories shame or dignify
The memories float or underlie
The memories trumpet or deny

The memories shrink or amplify
The memories daze or clarify
The memories march or wander by

It was a party in the memory box
I only opened up the heavy lid
Graduations, weddings, wakes,
Traditions, triumphs, tummyaches
Who knew that box was where they hid?

The memories tease or gratify
The memories taunt or satisfy
The memories blurt out or imply

It was there… I opened it
It was there… I looked inside
It was there… I could have walked away
Pandora learned – I could have known – that past and present would collide

I found some photos in the memory box
They startled me with such a somber tone
Though brightly colored, nonetheless
The pictures told of loneliness
Of expectation overgrown

The memories hide and mystify
The memories shift and fool the eye
The memories sometimes tell a lie…

The memories pan or glorify
The memories please or horrify
The memories hardly ever die…

Today I opened up the memory box.