Cassette Tape

I found it in your things
with all your report cards
and your first communion
prayer book-
you kept everything
all the little scraps and odd objects
that might have once
been important
now only husks
that echo the shape
of your life
comforting–
like the feel of a stone
smoothed by water–

you left me
one unmarked cassette tape
that could have held anything--
music, the messages from
your answering machine,
a hissing silence,

or your voice–

I haven’t played it
but I carry it in my pocket
keeping all potentials open
a wedge in the door
between us