River Stones
Losing my language they return
a word that's fallen to the ground
a photo from a memory book
an old address that can't be found
Living in shadows of their own
they have forgotten same as I
when we together side by side
held one another arm in arm
Time was the thing we had to share
now boxed and stored below the stairs
or carried to the moving van
For Sale sign posted on the lawn
Kin turn into neighbors rarely seen
until the summer comes along
then viewed through spaces in a fence
familiar somehow in the eyes
their noses shaped like mine
I give away the things I owned
my words once bright as river stones