Particles of dust swirl in the lamplight

Distant footfalls echo, muted by time,

Artifice alone is giver of sight,

Moments marked only by resonant chime.

 

Shelves stand bulging with catalogued memory,

Recent or stored for employment’s intent.

Lost, sacrificed to time transitory,

Older sheaves left sprawling; their shelf life spent.

 

Dusty cracked piles of sepia and grey

Left to crumble and fade until, by chance

Reminiscence wanders its winding way

To focus the forgotten with substance.

 

There, in the grey of memories decayed

Lies precious colour refusing to fade.

 

Published in Poetry Plus Magazine (Jan 2021)