The Album

He sits flicking through an album of memories

wondering where his life has gone.

How he let it ebb away,

slip from his grasp;

and be left with nothing

but glossy images of his past.

A strained smile and, just perhaps,

a welling of a tear,

of those long gone and those still near,

of tarnished hopes and brand new fears.

Of the dreams that came true

and the many more that didn't

of the loves he outgrew

and the one's he couldn't.

Comforted by the knowledge

these memories will never fade;

edited highlights of a life

bound in a transparent page.