(no subject)
The night before her death
Warned by a dream
She packed up her sorrows
In her cedar hope chest
Mementos interspersed with
Crackling layers of blue tissue paper,
Scattered with lavender
The college catalogue
The child’s christening dress,
Never worn
The colorful travel brochures for
Exotic voyages never taken
On the top of the chest she placed
A dried, crumbling rose,
Tied with a red silk ribbon
Treasured since the last night of
Her uncertain girlhood
She left it there
Unsure whether it was
Her greatest joy
Or her greatest regret
Warned by a dream
She packed up her sorrows
In her cedar hope chest
Mementos interspersed with
Crackling layers of blue tissue paper,
Scattered with lavender
The college catalogue
The child’s christening dress,
Never worn
The colorful travel brochures for
Exotic voyages never taken
On the top of the chest she placed
A dried, crumbling rose,
Tied with a red silk ribbon
Treasured since the last night of
Her uncertain girlhood
She left it there
Unsure whether it was
Her greatest joy
Or her greatest regret