Suitcase

With the light peeking over the mountain’s sunrise,

The silent witness to unraveling emotion

A suitcase stood by the door.

Within the latched encasement

Were promises once woven with care,

Now but frayed threads of loss

Dangling in the dank air of forgotten vows.

The home,

An empty hollowed out shell,

Ripples echo with the ghosts of joy,

Now replaced by the heavy sighs of solitude.

Buried in the bottom of the case,

Letters of endearment crumpled

In yellowed telltales of time

When forever seemed certain,

Now in layers of cold like snowpacks refusing to melt.

In still another layer of packing,

Scar-like smiles in photographs mock the present

With wounds never to heal,

Indifferent to the heart’s lament.

Upstairs,

The bed half empty

Imposes its cold reminder of warmth

Of what was replaced by

A battleground of dreams in vacuous limbo

Replaced by nights spent in the tossing and turning

Of why.

The backyard,

Once of blooming flowers,

Now fester in the heat of loss.

A last glance

As the door closes softly,

A chapter unfinished,

Yet complete in its ending

And the determination to move on.