All I Have Left of You

A Poem of Old Memories and Tragedies

“three women sitting on rock near body of water surrounded by trees during daytime” by Court Prather on Unsplash

An old friend from another life —
Ashes made of old letters and simple words;
Exchanges that changed as we aged —
But now, all those ‘hellos’ and ‘how are yous’
Are all I have left of you.

As my eyes stare at your words
With no energy to take them in,
My memory slowly puts the pieces together:
All the moments, all the laughter
Trying to remember who you were,
What your favourite team was
And that drink you’d always order —
All those little details
That have evaporated over time.

And as time slowly eats away
At the memories that you and I had made,
I can read those letters
And relive those moments
That have passed away.

Mateen Manek is an English teacher and a writer based in Toronto, Canada. His poetry book, ‘The Traveller: Part I’ is available on Amazon. He is currently working on his second poetry book. Click here to get the latest news on his writings. You…