Casket (Poetry)

I open the box
and they tumble out —
old multicoloured
beads of doubt
the broken string
I call a life
a jewelled clasp
fate’s flick-blade knife

Young diamond days
that sparkled fine
are misty now
they’ve lost their shine
the gift of hope
I dreamed was mine —
some talisman
to temper time —
has faded — dulled
a faithless wreck
too heavy for
my withered neck

I close the casket
on a heap
of memories
that rattle deep
their red and purple
green and gold
all gaudy glass
the dream mis-sold

I bury love
in velvet earth
I disbelieve
its fabled worth
so wear a chain
its silver true
as anything
I thought I knew.