Not My Memories

The landlord's keys were cold as ice,

He mentioned someone died in here,

But worth it for the price,

The memories that lingered near.

I stepped inside and felt the weight

Of someone else's final days,

A stranger's sorrow, love, and hate

Still echoing through this space.

~

The kitchen held a smoky ghost,

I smelled the char of burned-out meals,

Though I had never used this stove.

I knew the way their heartbreak feels.

My hands remembered stirring pots

While tears fell salty in the sauce,

Remembered screaming, throwing plates,

Remembered love becoming loss.

~

The bedroom where they drew last breath,

I felt their fingers clutch the sheet,

Their final heartbeat in my chest,

Their fading pulse beneath my feet.

Though illness took them in the night,

Their memories refused to go,

Now tangled up inside my mind,

A life I'll never truly know.