{This was my entry for PenMuse-46 conducted by Penmancy in November, 2022, which fetched me the Second Position.}

 

The diaphanous sheets susurrate against the onyx parchment

As I gently turn the dog-eared pages of our mothballed album –

The treasured cache of moments and memories of bygone days

Conserved, before the scythe of Time mows us down.

 

As I gently turn the dog-eared pages of our mothballed album

I chance upon ‘him’ – self-assured, charismatic, articulate –

The 2 a.m. buddy and confidant to my nerdy, antsy, teenaged self.

Cupid struck, but with a slanted dart…and he, forever, remained unscathed.

 

The treasured cache of moments and memories of bygone days

Enshrouds the wringing, wrenching, carmine landscape of my heart,

Crisscrossed by a breadcrumb trail of wistful longing,

Glossed over by the voguish masquerade of marital bliss!

 

Conserved, before the scythe of Time mows us down,

These metaphors of yesterday blend with my fragile todays

And gossamer tomorrows; and together, they help me weave

The warp and weft of my soul’s fractured tapestry.