Some Things That We Keep Forever

a handwritten name on a
grade one paper
a handkerchief with a
name embroidered on it
locks of baby's hair inside
the page of a fairytale book
an old wooden box

these are some of the things
mother kept for me:
my first paper when
i learned to write
my name,
a handkerchief that mother
gave me on my 5th
birthday,
locks of my hair
on my first hair cut,

mother kept them all,