The secrets in your head
Remain there forever
Archived
Some aged
Obsolete
Useless
Like you
Yet you remain true
To the covenant
Never to reveal them
Never to open the vault door
And let the sun shine in
You are the caretaker of secrets
And sometimes you
Enter the vault of your yesterdays
To consider what you have seen
To ponder and analyze
And wonder if what you
Gleaned from the darkness
Has application in
The light of the present
And you still try to understand
Why men and nations repeat
The same folly you
Documented
Reported
Exposed
In elegantly written reports
So long ago
But you find that your
Anger and frustration
With a world unchanged
Is disillusionment
And depression
Because you know inherently
That your past
Your contributions to
The nation you served
The world you saved
Are now
Much like you
Dust and shadow
Unappreciated and forgotten
But you do not forget
And you cannot tell what you know
You are cursed to remember
Secrets are a burden
That will
In the end
Pin you to your grave
As the coffin lid
Like the vault door
Shuts

©2022 Kevin Fraleigh