They Keep Me Company

They keep me company - Old letters, yellowed pictures, Quaint artifacts and reminiscences. I touch them with my fingers Feeling remainants of the past, Somber sacraments my heart has treasured. They help me through my days - While away my dark and lonely hours, Taking me on a sojourn to bygone times. I need to close my eyes - Take a deep breath and ready, To feel like I did once upon a time. Happy that my mind Has kept the relics of the past - Intact, just as they were once. The sounds, the fragrances, A look, a touch, a smile, a tear - I even see what I once could not. My naivete then compelled Or perhaps I chose to ignore, Maybe, I had not the sense I have today. The past subtly commingles With my present and stops short - Barred from doorways of tomorrow. But I carry them in my heart Those sounds, fragrances and feelings - Which leave a smile, a tear and sighs. Like wreaths upon the graves Within my heart - that it may cherish, That subtle touch of my bygone days. They keep me engaged The old letters, yellowed pictures Little artifacts - ruins of my past. Times I wish I could let go But for strange reasons I hold on, Or maybe they are loathe to let go of me. They are now my companions Who straddle my desolate moments, With pleasure, pain and a deep longing. Broken fragments of my past - Which will ever remain with me, I know they will keep me good company! ***********