Memories

TREASURE CHEST OF MEMORIES

I found a little chest today
Covered with years of dust
The hinges were bent and broken
The hasp covered with rust

I held it for just a moment
Then brushed away a tear
I knew its precious contents were
Treasures from yesteryear

The lid squeaked as I opened it
‘Twas closed so long ago
I lifted away some tissue
And saw Mom’s cameo

A glass ink pen of Grandma’s
Mom’s hanky, edged in lace
A beautiful jeweled hairpin
That held my hair in place

An old tintype of Grandpa
When he was just a lad
A bookmark with the Lord’s Prayer
That once belonged to Dad

A pressed corsage of rosebuds
That once was pink and white
A small dance card of autographs
From Senior Prom night

A younger brother’s Purple Heart
What anguish that had wrought
A pin that bears my old nickname
That a friend had bought

A celluloid ring and pendant
(Treasures my brother made)
Some charms my sisters gave to me
When I was in tenth grade

A narrow piece of ruffling
From my wedding dress
A 1940-D penny
(It brought luck, I guess)

Wee lovebirds from my wedding cake
In the box that held my ring
A beautiful golden locket
Now hanging from a string

Remembrance in a lock of hair
Carried throughout the war
By my handsome soldier husband
When he was twenty-four

Some precious little ringlets
In shades of yellow-gold
Mementos from my children’s hair
When they were one year old

Some love letters tied with ribbon
A valentine or two
Some cards the children made by hand
That say, “Mom, I love you.”

A treasured memory of my son
(A pin in blue and gold)
He bought it with some money earned
When he was ten years old

A pin my youngest daughter made
Twenty-eight years ago
And from the other’s light brown curls
A faded yellow bow

Each token tucked within the chest
Recalled a memory
The scenes were played across my mind
In stirring reverie

I closed my eyes in memory
Again, I dried some tears
Then closed the chest, and put it back
Where it had been for years

5/12/86 Phyllis DeWitt-VanVlec

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Ermine beauty is everywhere

NATURE’S FICKLE GAME

It seemed the wind had little
mercy, and in its bitterness
it howled and moaned like a crazed
banshee; twisting and tearing
at the trees until it ripped limbs
from their sockets, tossing
them to the frozen ground;
Then in a sudden mood change,
from tantrum to passivity,
the wind ceased, replaced
by a heavy silent snowfall.

Dawn’s first thin finger of light
illuminated the night’s destruction,
now mantled with sugar-white
drop-cloths. Tree limbs are bending
their backs under the weight
of their new white coats.
Leaves that had refused
to release their desperate hold,
now shiver as they shove noses
from beneath frosty blankets.
Last night’s fallen limbs
poke antlers through
the drifting mounds that built
around their broken bones.
Ermine beauty is everywhere
I look, and it will remain
so, until the sun, joining
in the game, smiles as it starts
its usual melt-down,
in a warm wet strip-tease.
Nature’s fickle game.

2/8/92 Phyllis DeWitt-VanVleck

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Cameos of Love

FINGERTIPS OF MEMORY

Soft fingertips of memory
In moments so sublime
Reach gently back into the past
Recalling by-gone time
7/12/00 Phyllis DeWitt-VanVleck

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A TEAR AND A ROSE

On his sad lonely grave,
A yellow flower grows.
A teardrop catches sunlight
On the petal of a rose.

8/10/90 Phyllis DeWitt-VanVleck

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