Jessie

Under your bed and
dust gathers on me,
like your new friends do
at sleepovers I’m not invited to.

Do you remember when
we were always together?
I was needed, I was loved,
it was beautiful.

A whimsical gleam,
always made my day.
And each drop of tears
were mine to wipe away.

Summer by the swings,
fall by the trees,
always you and me,
that’s all I could need.
Just you and me.

Your finest ranch doll,
shiny smile, rosy cheeks.
My hatted partner,
our reveries atop plastic horses.

But now your boots don’t fit,
our life stored away.
The years taking away
everything from us,
from me.

I just wanted to
Stay by your side.
Tell me “I’ll always love you.”
Just pick me up again.

Alas, ever changing you,
moves past the stagnant me.
I’m left behind
in a box, our place, the sidewalk.

Maybe someone else
will hold me like you did.
Maybe I’ll be displayed,
awed by connoisseurs, eyes like yours.

But I just know,
I’ll never forget you, partner.
My yarn of hair,
braided in your memory.

And I know that
you have a life
to embrace with the arms
that once held me.

I just never wanted
to be absent in your mind.
Like our days of laughter,
no longer matter.
Like I never mattered.