Spring Soul Cleaning

Spring Soul Cleaning

I set about my day in random effort and isolation,

mingling in the memories of other days and former times,

I come across my past out of order in zig-zagged lines.

Soft-shelled emotions combine with edges raw or worn smooth,

depending on the fabric from which they were hewed,

some still brightly colored, others faded gray.

Not hard pressed for thinking, fragments holding sway:

catching stray thoughts rushing in then slowly ebbing away.

It’s not a loss they all don’t stay – where would I put them all;

the events, the thoughts, the laughs, the tears of all my yesterdays?

If I kept them all in baskets, where would I put today?

Baskets are better than boxes; they have nice handles to hold

to pick them up and dump their contents on the ground.

I can see, upon looking down, some fragile things are broken,

wrecked and cracked by heavy stuff thrown in on top them.

Should I weep for the crushed and mangled? 

My tears are saved for weightier things, made from stronger matters.

that have never known the soft touch of love or the hug of decay.

Lying where they were placed like rocks or lumps of hardened clay,

defiance in their being, believing they are meant to stay.

But no, today I’m off-loading, and the place where I begin

is with those rough and clumpy pieces which I’ll throw away.

Then gently aged wispy refuse will be given to the wind.

March 21, 2010 by Karen Marie Crump