TICKET STUB MEMORIES

Pressed between cellophane
The torn halves of two ancient amusement park tickets
And a strip of black and white fun-house photos
(two boys grinning goofily -- one freckled-face,
the other, bespectacled, mouth full of metal)
Conjure images of a summer day long past

Neon lights and pinball machines
Buttered popcorn and soda-sticky concrete floors
We were inseparable then
Blood Brother buddies
Made from a pen knife and spit
Time stood still then
There was time for everything
Now. . .

Time has overtaken us

I had my suit pressed
And my shoes polished
I would say my final good-bye later
When he was laid beneath the grass

But for now, memories will have to do.