Lost and Found

Lost and found.

We discovered each other 
in lost and found.
You were a treasure chest
washed up on the beach
when my toe stubbed against you.

Tentatively opening your lid,
I discovered many secrets -
many compartments concealed
from unappreciative eyes and minds
jewels dulled by non-use,
wrapped in oilcloth, fusty with age

I was broken on that beach
discards from other people’s debris.
You carefully collected all my fragments
painstakingly re-assembled them
into a collage of unexpected beauty

Many years later I find still
there are secret compartments
located in the depths of your being.

We carefully light candles 
for each other, to find 
hands to hold in the dark.

This is a poem I wrote for my memoir No Visible Injuries about my healing journey from a challenging childhood into a life filed with love. I am so awarethat many don't manage to make that transition and fully cognisant of how hard it is to do so - but this poem was about finding the start of that love story