Emptied

picking through the remnants of a day
and opened suitcases
revealing
emptiness

I found a photograph of my sister
black and white and innocent
and mourned

I hold it close to me now

and a stitched sample
secreted within a cold, hard wooden chest
the traces of a passing younger hand

before the emptying

a tumbler roll as I replace the key in the safe
and pass from this still sad place

of a world

emptied