There they sit, still unopened
on my new basement floor
do I dare open them now, and unleash
all those memories
memories so full of before

their contents, I know...only too well
emotions of laughter and grief and love
feelings too heady to quell

pictures of pieces of life flood my soul
pieces broken apart
no longer whole

photos, momentos of happy times past
boxes of memories, life goes by
too fast

a husband, so healthy...looking into my eyes
a memory now
a part of me that has died

pictures of my children
two cute little boys
oh what I'd give now
to again hear their noise

one moved away
and one died last year
a once happy family
sliced in half in one year

boxes of memories
all full of my past
a life fully lived
going by, much too fast

and here I sit now
my life starting anew
a new home, a new love
a fresh start for two

but these boxes of memories
refuse to go away
perhaps I'll go through them
on some other day