Keys

Sheila Martindale
From:   There is a Place . (chapbook, Bogg Publications, USA, 1992).

Finally
I have straightened out
the mess you left behind you
when you departed this life
without warning or preparation

Everyone
is now satisfied
– your children, stepchildren
– previous wives and their relatives
– the courts
– the lawyers
– the accountants
– the bank
– the tax department
– the people who insured
your house, your car, your life

The paperwork is done
your possessions divided
your assets liquidated
your accounts closed
the loose ends all tied up

except for this pile of keys
with no locks left to fit them

I had surrendered keys
for all the doors I closed
that you would not walk through again
and for the cupboards, cabinets, boxes
luggage, safe deposits
that were yours

Why then this surplus?

What remains to be unlocked
except the mystery of your death
and all that love
behind the floodgates
of my heart?

Poem 1 | Poem 2 | Poem 3 | Poem 4 | Poem 5 | Poem 6

Sheila Martindale's works copyright © to the author.