Disappointments

Disappointments
by Vivian Gilbert Zabel


Every life has a room
where memories are stored:
A box of special occasions here,
Shelves of shared laughter there.
But back in the shadows
Lurks a trunk locked tight,
Not to be opened and searched.
There hide disappointments
Which darken every heart.

Promises made in passing,
Never meant to be kept,
Still throb with pain inflicted.
Hopes, shattered like glass
Thrown against a stone wall,
Leave splinters of pain
That never quite heal.
Dark despair smothers all,
When disappointment calls.

I may share my memories
Remembered with joy,
But the disappointments
Manage to stay all mine.
But there are so many,
A lifetime of broken items
or things that disappear.
So I ask, please don’t promise
Unless you follow through.