puzzle pieces;

you've opened the box

and there lies the puzzle pieces

so many of them

jumbled against one another.

you dump them out on the kitchen table

a thousand little segments

maybe more

you can't remember.

laboriously

you put them together

crying in frustration

when some do not fit perfectly

but mismatched and

a recipe for disaster.

how long does it take you

sitting in that same little spot

by the same little window

the world is going on without you

and you sit here still

playing in your puzzle world.

something comes alive

as a picture is slowly painted

it looks so familiar

but you cannot remember.

you haven't remembered anything

in a very long time.

humming to yourself

you giggle softly

it's almost the end of the game

and you hold the last remaining piece

between your fingers.

and there it goes

right where it should be.

but you look at your hands again

wrinkled, age spots dotting the surface.

what has happened?

where had the time gone?

the picture you composed

comes alive

like a little movie

you see a life that you once forgotten

everything you once felt, you once seen

you once loved

flashes before you.

and then you realize

in this little kitchen

putting the puzzle pieces together

you spent half your life

living in the past.