by Jan Sterrett

Created on: May 17, 2007   Last Updated: September 19, 2008

Old and Dusty Notebooks

Old and dusty notebooks
That I took down from the shelf.
My old writings in poetry and prose
I went back in time, as I started to read
The words of my much younger self.

Words scribbled in pencil I'd written
Of what my life back then had been about.
Some had become faded as time had gone by.
As I reread the things I wrote so long ago
I could barely make all the words out.

Youthful imaginings, fanciful flights
Which in reality I had never seen.
I became quite amused
Reading my old colorful words
That I'd written in red, blue and green.

The joys and the hurts I had written about
The heartache, the pain and the tears.
Love I hoped to have found often left me too soon.
My old words recalling the loss of that love
That I too often, had felt through the years.

Angry letters I'd written
Rants and raves never sent
Collections of old worn out words.
I was surprised and in awe at my passion back then,
Amazed at the time I had spent.

Classroom notations, old traveled places,
Lists of things that I needed to do.
Forgotten dreams,
That the passing of time soon erases
Were all captured in those pages too.

Years worth of writing, those young wistful words
How my writing had changed through the times
Like a lost treasure found,
Those old notebooks became
Forgotten gems of my prose and my rhymes.

At this point in my life I must throw things away
To lesson the clutter in life I've come to own
But I can't part with those notebooks.
They'll remain. They portray
The times and the people I've known.

Old and dusty notebooks
That I put back on the shelf.
Those heartfelt expressions
Are my life's recollections,
The words of my much younger self.

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