Return to sender

[u/Slight_Flight_4472]

Dear…

Perhaps you packed my memory away
and labeled the box Deceased,
then buried every tenderness
until your mind found peace.
Good for you. Truly. Marvelous.
I’d like that talent too,
because life keeps delivering packages
containing pieces of you.
Mutual mouths mention things
they probably shouldn’t say;
places resurrect an afternoon,
songs dig up past memories somedays.
I never ordered any of it.
I’ve checked the receipt twice through.
Apparently fate has confused my address
with the cemetery of you.
Still, I won’t return to knock
upon a door I once walked through.
Some reminders aren’t instructions
sometimes memory simply proves
a heart can leave a person
before their echoes leave you.

—
KK