Wedding Album
You kept them
in a custom-made linen box,
secretly tucked away
in the post-marital home.
Nobody burns them!
Are you sure?
On a hot summer night, around 9 o’clock,
bright stars bore witness
to the dogged purpose
in your eyes.
There was no persuading otherwise,
yet we stood together
in the yard,
as you eased off the lid and lifted it.
The flawless patterned book emerged,
and you flicked through it,
one last time.
Your groom/groomsmen, beaming.
Your mother, father; in-laws, beaming.
Brother, sister, cousins, beaming.
Bridesmaids/flower girls, beaming.
Who wouldn’t beam on your special day?
With a nervy walk down the aisle, captured:
The ring on your finger. The first kiss –
How has it come to this?
The wedding album, once cherished,
ferociously ripped
by hands that not long ago
sifted through his hair.
Now picking up that blowtorch,
switched on,
you incinerate
a thousand memories.