Memento

“Fond Memories” by Carmen Guedez

an old ticket stub
torn from a theater
that no longer stands
for a movie film
no one remembers

even she has to
press hard her memory
trying to call up his smile
as she wonders
where life laid his journey
how decades on decades
have treated his heart

did he ever make good
on the plans he described
with exuberance
drawing the future on air
with those boy-handsome
gestures of unbridled zeal
all that sparkling confidence
only the young
ever rightfully own

she looks up
from her scrapbook
with tears that reflect
the surprises and turns
her own journey encountered

the tears not so much
for what’s done and behind
as for what remains
unknown ahead

an old ticket stub
torn from a theater
that no longer stands
and she wonders