Untaken Tokens Poem by Susan Lacovara

I wonder why they were left behind
The untaken tokens
Of love
Those especially selected
With so tender a touch
Wrapped with unwavering thoughts
Of seeing the surprise in your eyes

Simple souvenirs
I imagined would secure memories
Of my moistened lips
My untied hair
That red sundress
You hungrily eyed and spied
With its hem wet and heavy
From the washing waves
Frothing and foaming
As I strolled barefooted
In bliss
Searching for seaglass
And scallop shells
To hand string
Just before I photographed
A perfect setting sun
I wonder why you rejected
Neglected
A pocketful preservation
Of seeds from my garden
I swaddled in hand folded origami packets
Tied with a blade of beachgrass
Kissed with the sunlight of my soul

You looked unimpressed

My slumping shoulders
Disguised by a batik shawl
Said it all
And not nearly enough

I remember the hurt
My expecting your excitement
As if a locomotive
Rushing at me....full speed..,
Then failing to break for my station

In the drawer of a treasure chest
Now covered in cobwebbed wishes
Rests the remains of the finds
That took so much of my time
To amass

The traveler's journal
With rice paper pristine perfection
Unopened, an unwritten mapping
Of our planned personal picnics
In state parks and snow storms

The matching compasses
To keep us safely coming home to one another


A pressed pansy announcing the first day
Of our first Spring

You leaked an irritated smile
Barely accepting a humble bundle
Of BBQ utensils
As if I had skewered and sliced
Your introverted independence
Still in original plastic packaging
Set aside with a shrug off of sincerity
Your aloof attitude
Sharper than the carving knife contained

You did however take with you
The antique truth and brand new trust
That I served on pretty plates

Yet countless cards and perfume scented scribes
Somehow failed to land in your luggage
Finding them sometime later
Lingering, left alone
In a leftover pile
Of pressed shirts and paired socks
Of which you no longer thought
Necessary accessories


The remaining....
What remains unspoken
Of the untaken tokens











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