Stored and sealed are the boxed sets
of secrets.
Trunks and suitcases filled
with others’s lives
or perhaps mine when I am gone.
Old letters, a strand of hair, news clippings --
artifacts for biographical archaeologists
or the just curious.
The sealed box at auctions is more desired
for the secrets held
than for possible gold coin.
In the attic trunk,
the child finds a grandmother
once a girl in love .
A grandfather football star,
the menu from the cruise ship,
and long ago death notices.
And there are trunks
in the attic of the head
where unwritten secrets are stored.
Where are hidden the views we have of ourselves
that we share with no one.
And there we keep the hurts too petty and too hurtful
to be allowed to see the light of day.
Secrets are sought for answers
to our persistent questions.
Why am I here and
for so short a time?
Has anyone found the answers
and hidden them in a trunk?
Can others's lives prompt ours?
Be assured that
when the secrets of the universe are found,
they will be
in a sealed box in an attic somewhere.
Perhaps to be all -knowing is to be immortal
and Pandora's Box a mean myth.