Endings and Beginnings

 Marie Leone, Hamilton

 (Marie explained, “I wrote this poem when someone I know was preparing to move from their home into a smaller apartment. The downsizing that we must all go through as we face the changes in our life.”)

I don’t know where to start.
Picking up each item with care and love.
A thing really … but tied to so many memories.
Funny how each item takes me to a different time in my life.
So many changes, filled with fun, sadness, hope, dreams, ambition.
These things have surrounded me for years,
occupying space, collecting dust,
not demanding my attention.
I’m still here. They don’t define me.
But … they have been part of me, and
with change, comes the letting go.
Endings and beginnings — it’s the transition
in the middle that hurts the most.