The Wedding Dress Poem by JOYCE BEH

It was upstairs in the attic
That an old box caught my eye.
It was wrapped in brittle paper
Way upon a shelf so high.


I wasn’t tall enough to reach it
So I went and found a chair.
Curiosity was getting me
I had to find out what was there.


I reached up high and got it down
And held it in a gentle clutch.
Somehow I knew inside me
My heart, this thing would touch.


The paper was old and yellowed
It was covered with years of dust.
My anticipation grew stronger;
Just to open it, I must.


It must have been up there so long
Fifty, sixty years or more.
For when I tried to dust it off
The paper on it tore.


I held the box upon my lap
As I sat down on that chair.
I carefully untied the ribbon
That held the paper there.


I held my breath, took off the lid
As I tried to make some sense
For inside this old torn box
Was an unworn wedding dress.


I held it up and smoothed it out
And touched the pearls and lace.
And as I read the name inside
Tears slid down my face.


When young, I remember the story told
Aunt Nellie was her name
And how she lost her love at sea
How her life was ne’er the same.


They told the tale of long ago
About the day she was to wed
How Aunt Nellie lost her mind when
She found her sweetheart dead.


Returning the dress to it’s resting place
Is when I saw the folded note
I took the tear stained paper out
And read the words he wrote.


“Dear Nellie, please forgive me
For I am going far away
Another love has stole my heart
So there’ll be no wedding day”.


It took awhile for my mind to grasp
In the box the secret kept
And when I finally realized
I bowed my head and wept.


So dear Nellie, rest in peace
About your wedding day
For I’ll never tell a soul
Why your lover went away.


I tore the note in little shreds
And in the fire I did throw
So the truth of Nellie’s story
No one would ever know.