sign posted: FOR SALE by owner.
outward her gaze became a stare,
past the sign
into the space of memories.

she leaned against the window sill,
propped by a wrinkled elbow,
a bemusement
yet her wonderment turned to angst.

how much for those kids she sees
playing in her reel to real memories?
of childhoods now gone,
but never forgotten.

bound by the strings of time
and snugged to a tight fit,
metrometer-measured,
her mind chugs to a sizzle.

where'd they go, how long gone?
will they return? ever?
lamentations of survival,
expose the bittersweetness of life,

and looked for but never found
will be the cracks of memories
that are left for the futures
of all pasts.

thru them comes the tomorrows aplenty,
for riches adorn
every soft heart and calloused hand
as the trek will be but a jaunt.

10/19/2005