The Broken Locket
They divorced in the late sixties
I was young, just turning ten and listening
To their arguments, their disagreements
Revealing words that I knew were injurious
They walked away from each other
Determined to find… a new way, a new love
Someone who would make them forget
The love that had been a part of their lives
They didn’t tell me too much about it
Only that I’d spend time with each parent
Finding ways to share our weekends, our dreams
With fake smiles that would always beam
They both found their way to new loves
New hopes and dreams, new families to believe in
Leaving me, their one and only, to find comfort
In the silence, the solitude of being a part of the past
They struggled to give me the best they could
Never quick to remind me that I was from a broken home
A broken world where trouble was just normal
Where my heart felt so unsure – uncertain - broken
They didn’t pay much attention as I searched the past
For fragments of hope, fragments of a loving family
Remnants of promises, leftover optimism
Feelings that were left behind, where I was a part of them
They didn’t notice when I found the broken locket
It was cradled in a chest, hidden beneath a long ago
Where I had been the favorite child of a young love
And I found the courage to open up the locket and look inside…
There I found two kids – both smiling like they’d light the sun
With the joy found in their hearts, the wonder in their souls
Two hearts who had found one another and found something
Far more beautiful than sun or moon, more beautiful than the stars
In that broken locket, I found my mom and dad, two who knew…
That love was more wonderful than they’d ever figure out
Love was the guiding light, the ray of hope, the dream stirred up…
And, together, they were a part of a wonderful, fanciful reality
They didn’t know I found their smiles, happy and lighting
The camera’s lens – with joy immeasurable, a bond so pleasurable
That, soon, their child would be coming along… making them a family
And, in spite of what was to be, in that broken locket… hearts beamed!
One in Five poetry Contest
Sponsored by Joseph May
Theme chosen: The Broken Locket
June 29, 2022
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