The Forgotten Shelf Poem by Holly Jamestone

As life went on and days dissolved
I couldn't help but see
How very distant you'd become
From how you used to be

And though we never said goodbye
No wink or warm embrace
I must confess I didn't know
I'd fallen from your grace

And if your current mindset
Were to flee or not discuss
With one foot in, one out the door
Where would it all leave us?

As months whizzed by and seasons too
Our bond began to tatter
Though never did it dawn on me
How little did I matter

I'd written you and called you
While unknowingly on hold
Searching for an answer
Or a reason to unfold

Relationship forgotten
As a crumpled shirt, twice-worn
Painful realizations
Our foundation's ever-torn

How baffled was I then to learn
You'd transferred friendship's seeds
To anything and everything
That cultivated weeds

I understand that life's a stream
Its pathway ever-changing
Tumbling over scattered rocks
Which fate's hands are arranging

Yet somehow your priorities
Switched back another way
A close-knit bond put on the shelf
Until another day

A shelf that one day gathered dust
Its value slowly lost
Its message missed, its substance gone
Its meaning gently tossed

Yet tucked away within its cracks
Were years of friendship, deep
While in the woven spider webs
Our shattered memories weep

(10-6-2000)
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