My Treasure Chest

I have a wooden cedar box Filled with precious things Most of no value to you But joy to me it brings A copper penny, 1961 The year I was given life A withered old white rose From the day I became a wife Two certified legal documents That tell me that I am free A US birth certificate And a final divorce decree Golden locks, adorned with ribbon Clipped from the head of my son A bag filled with tiny teeth Exchanged for a dollar one by one A report card, five A’s and one B My sons first year at school A tattered silken blanket Still covered with infant drool A book of poems that I had written While I was a rebellious teen Fifty plus love letters From then, now and in-between Old yellowed photographs Of family long since gone A dozen crayon pictures That both my kids have drawn Hospital anklets, pink and blue That both my children wore A stupid keep out sign That I used to hang on my door Each item within this box Is a memory that I hold dear I keep them for a distant time When my memory won’t be so clear So if you wish to see inside To you I have one request Do not call it just a box ‘Cause to me it’s a “TREASURE CHEST”