Things Our clothes tatter, our shoes smell, our wood decays, our paper brittles, our marble chips, our silver tarnishes, our drives corrupt, our food rots, our steel rusts, our wine sours. Faded and faltering Some things are nice, some necessary Some liked, some lusted after Some longer lived, some longer liked. Some adored, some abused, Some displayed, some defaced, Donated and discarded Our things of no value and great worth are close, are comfort, are talismans, are touchstones, are emblems, are ensigns, are memorials, are monuments. Kindred and kept. These we will not part with, these we have no buyers for, these we touch with reverence, these we hide from other eyes, these we see ourselves in, honored and haunted. A bronze medallion faces me, a fat man perched on rice sacks. a god of prosperity, a promise of well being, a wish in my decline. Tarnished and treasured His scuffed wallet rests in my desk, his lone dollar inside. his identity and estate, his the day he killed himself, his unknowing bequest to me. Frayed, flawed friendship,