what's hidden

She pads
silently through
the house in the pink slippers that she bought
at Kmart in triplicate. She is hiding
stuff from those
she sees in the shadows
and around the corners
and behind the couch.
Stuff:
money;
bills that she’s wrapped
in paper towels she slips between pages of old,
coloring books.
Rings she puts
inside the pillows
on the rocker.
So safe
that even she
will forget where they were stashed. And while she forgets
he only begins
to remember.
Or just learn.
A diary that she didn’t
hide so well
he finds filled
with words that
seem lost.
Ramblings
about life
and love
and marriage that make his heart ache,
for he knew
none of what
she was feeling
all those years.
“If this is
all there is …”
And he stops
reading and takes
the book to the old
incinerator. There he burns what he doesn’t want
to know,
while she
keeps hiding
things like she
always
had.