Dear John...

I found our collage yesterday -
Or as I like to think of it: montage.
Each item here an echoing,
Lovingly cut out
Then pasted into memory,
Of something that we shared.

We cruised the coast of Kent,
Sea misted all the way -
You called it haar,
Though wrongly, I believe. The coast
A faded postcard from the sea,
The fading I see here.

Here are the pearls you wore,
The doily from the restaurant where we lunched...
So posh, insisting on a tie!
You gave me your silk ribbon
And I made a tie from that.
We giggled through the meal.

And then the little gallery,
The picture that we bought
for our front room... 
(We'd always planned ahead!)
Remember how much care she took
Protecting it with yards of burlap?

Only the letter is misplaced in time.
It came a few days later - set out
Your reasons which I understood
And to this day accept, though foolishly
Still half expect
The problems to resolve themselves.

It's just the net that's slipped my memory...
It must have some significance, but
let it rest... allow loose ends to be. 

Written for Vicki Sheehan's prompt Timeworn, The Thursday Think Tank's #114 post at Poets United