A False Hope Poem by Edwina Reizer

She opened the album slowly
and set upon her task.
She searched for a certain picture,
one where she wore a mask.

It had been taken at a party
on a Halloween night.
He’d snapped it with his camera.
She remembered the flash of light.

They bobbed for apples
and played spin the bottle game.
He’d spun it and it pointed to her.
They kissed and he asked her name.

He asked her to take her mask off
so he could see her eyes.
When she did he smiled
and she felt butterflies.

He sent her the picture in the mail.
On the back it said “Remember the kiss.”
She never saw him again.
But the picture she could not miss.

Of course she remembered the kiss.
It was the first one she’d ever received.
One doesn’t forget that feeling
or the boy on that Halloween Eve.