Dried Corsages" ~Dusty

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<TD width="62%"><BIG><BIG><BIG>Dried Corsages" ~Dusty</BIG></BIG></BIG></TD>
<TD width="38%"> (http://www.illyria.com/dusty/media/corsage.ra)</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Dried corsages
tissue-shrouded
the last things laid
into the crate

atop the diaries
atop the poems
atop the yearbooks
the detritus of adolescence.

The lid clicks
coffinlike
embalming my youth
in melancholy anticipation.

Last day of leave
last day of girlhood
last day of certitude
last day of luxuriant revokable errors.

First plane ride
first farewell
first overseas tour
first peek into womanhood's abyss.

The crumpled duffel awaits
decisions I can't make.
What do you pack
to take to a war?

[philly]

How true are the words written...

[Deadmanwalking]

You don't have to pack a duffle. Just take all the courage you can muster and a whole lot of prayer.....Deadmanwalking