a tribute
~
memories...
in fading sepia we find,
the romance of
another time;
albums filled
with black and white,
of glossy faces
burnt in fading light;
boxes of our ko-dak-chro-ments,
gone-by treasures,
once-upon-a-moments;
wistful years once crystal clear,
memāries drowned in haze,
resurface now,
renewed in tears,
...as we remember well.
memories...
the yellow ribbons tied,
āround an olā oak tree;
anxious waiting to make an āusā,
the anticipation of a āhe and meā;
until the news from distant shore,
yet another casualty of war,
and now remains but this,
a marble slab inscribed,
in accolades of former glory,
merely remnants āmidst the pines;
on forest lawn where promises,
tween two forāer became untwined,
...as she remembers well.
memories...
so many are the ways
the memāry onward lives
even this, a,
ādo this in...ā request
restores a covenant anew
a "remembrance of..."
the āweā here left behind,
be it in the bread we break,
this forever to remind,
a sacrosanct entreaty made,
promise sealed as blood in wine,
reserving not for deities alone,
but given us immortal souls,
to us a gift at birth,
of staggering import,
responsibility of heavy worth;
of after-ashes keeping still,
an ever-after captured with
the shutter, brush and quill,
...so we remember well.
memories...
its keeping cherished lovingly
though its loss,
its diminishment bereaved;
as lovers silent grieve,
those lost to us yet breathe,
in memories āmidst the breeze.
forgetful of the slightest
until one day in finality
their mortal soul is set free
into immortality.
...to forāer remember.
memories...
to us, a call, a charge,
a āneāer forgetā
a duty large
a ādo this in
remembrance ofā
this our promise
to eāer remember,
always keep;
forgetting never,
to carry the flame,
while we yet live
in sunshineās grip;
an oath is sworn,
that forever we,
shall always ready be,
for in remembering best,
the tears flow easily,
and so it isn't pity,
of a loss i seek,
no,
for ātis in finding memory
that i shall always weep,
...as i remember well.
~
post script.
of love lost in the haze of war; of lives changing motion, a baby is born, as a grandmother moves into memory care... a cycle of life, brought full circle best in remembrance.Ā Ā and this makes remembering perhaps the most important facet that defines, sets us apart as humans, best captured in this thought, "in forgetting the past we cease to be and bring hope forward for the future. and so we remember... for we must never forget!ā and so we line our shelves, our walls with them, visiting inscribed stones behind fences.Ā Ā
dedicated today to our memories each of loved ones, lovers lost; but on this dark eve, especially those who lost those souls, three thousand strong, a darkest day of remembrance, this September the eleventh, who never got to say goodbye... so we remember well!
