Time Capsule

Time Capsule



I’ve been filling a time capsule for years

I keep digging it up and reburying it

Each new treasure carefully selected

For the memories that it evokes

All the things I want to remember

There’s my small blue bear 

Missing both eyes 

And absolutely thread bare

Every night keeping me company

To frighten away my nightmares

My favourite playing cards

The ones with the tall ship on the back

How many hours of solitaire 

Have I played on that deck

There’s rolls of pennies

Picked up for luck

But you’re lucky to find pennies anymore

I’ll have to collect nickels instead

My first pair of earrings

How I begged and pleaded to get them

And they turned my ears green

The rose I was given on my 16th birthday

It’s petals curled outward in the perfect rendition of life

Pink even after all these years

Kept safe in a silk-lined box 

Cards from my grandparents 

For birthdays and graduations

Once containing money

Now filled with memories 

Their handwriting the script of love

Newspaper clippings of accomplishments

Because that was social media when I was young

A time when it meant something 

To have your picture in the paper

My first walkman 

Now outdated technology  

With so many cassettes 

I couldn’t leave any music behind

Mixed tapes I made for myself

Others like love letters made for me

The music goes on and on

But the time has come 

To bury the time capsule again

I open myself up once more

And place the latest contents inside

It’s time to bury the past 

For the time being


Words: ©4/2/2021LCR

Image: CCO

Comments

  1. Things carry so much life essence. I relate to saving a collage of things that tell our life stories in a visual shorthand. I get sad when I think about how others probably won't treasure our treasures in the end.

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    1. Thank you. I get sad about that too. To me they are treasures, but they become trinkets once you strip away their memory.

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  2. This is beautiful. And as it happens so often, with your poetry, it feels completely true. It brings to mind every relationship we thought would last forever, but didn't. It also makes me admire the speaker. They have done so much living and gaining and losing... but they never close up to the possibility of one more memory (that, perhaps, will be the best).

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    1. It's funny because I had completely forgotten about my blue bear, until I discovered it at my parents house along with this collection of other things I had set aside; things I couldn't throw away from my childhood/adolescence. Suddenly I got to be the little girl, the daughter, the granddaughter, the friend, every younger version of myself came back to me all because I held a little blue bear again and had a box full of memories saved.

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  3. Oh, I have a box like yours ... I pull it out every few years to remind me of all the simple pleasures / treasures I've been blessed to experience. Your poetry is flawlessly composed, the 'play' on words delightful, Lori.

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    1. I have a few of these boxes stashed in different locations. Different eras of my life. They're fun to find. I think my latest one is virtual. It's a guess whether I'll remember where it is. :)

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