C Richard Miles - Treasured Memories

She peers inside her jewel-box once more
But sees beyond the riches that it holds:
The dazzling diamond brooches may dismay
And sparkling sapphire clusters fail to satisfy.
Even emeralds, once elegant, are evanescent now
And gold has lost its glamour, silver’s shed its sheen
But, still, inside that casket hide more precious gems:
Though it has faded and has lost its mate, like her,
That single pendant earring with that artificial pearl
Brings memories of days long gone when first they met
Before they wed when, at the village post office,
He drew the entire contents of his savings book
To pay the pawnbroker for trinkets in the sale.
And other treasures soon transpire beneath the fluff
That has accumulated in the grimy depths:
A twisted, battered bracelet that her mother always wore
And that baby-tooth near disintegrating now
That was her first-born’s. Why does he never ring?
But then, that doesn’t matter, as she fondly smiles
And closes down the tattered tortoiseshell lid
And pats the peeling lacquer one more time
Protecting irreplaceable possessions deep within.

C Richard Miles

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