Aftermath

Shuffling through brummagem and bric-a-brac
through curling photos and discard-able tat,
is that silver, tarnished to almost black?
And clothes, mountains of deeply unfashionable clothes,
odd shoes, never seen on the cover of Vogue:
a faded and grimy silken rose.
Writing and ticking and naming: a list,
how does it ever come down to this?
Orphaned possessions, no longer missed.