To the You I Barely Knew...

I never really knew you, except in the long ago;

...lipstick on…nails just so,

soft leather handbag, Tabu cologne—

you smoked Chesterfield Kings

    I remember these things.

And you would bake…

  oatmeal cookies, cream puffs

coconut pies with perfect crust

—a taste I would die for

would that I could taste once more.

It’s hard to live up to the memory

of  the you I barely knew—

shorter than five foot nothin’

yet a force to be reckoned with.

With these less-than-perfect hands

and broken nails, I favor

the crafter, the woodworker,

the other half that molded my existence.

But I have your eyes, and when I look in the mirror

   it’s you I see looking back at me.

So I carry all your stories in my heart,

told by the ones who knew you best

living on the memories we never had

           

…we could have been such good friends.

© Ginny Brannan 2017

Circa 1962 Franconia Notch, N.H.

In loving memory of Clementine "Tina" Mary Donzello, 1921 - 1963