It lived next to the soy sauce packets

It lived next to the soy sauce packets

and the rubber bands that had lost their stretch.

A brass key, teeth worn smooth,

heavy enough to mean something.

I found it today in a box of his sweaters.

The envelope has a ring of rust

where a paperclip died years ago.

I walked around the apartment

trying it in the closet, the front door,

the suitcase.

None of them bit.