when your parents die
you will find what they saved
you will find things in the house
that you do not know why they saved
you may find linens carefully folded
and papers from the past
the linens embroidered by ancestors
but you cannot ask which ones
photographs of people you don't know
and which are not labeled
a reference to a ring that your great aunt had
but she has been dead since 1986
when you go to your parents' house
ask them what they have saved
ask them why it has been saved
ask them now
because when they are gone
it is too late
to ask