Combining it all,
all the bright moments,
the clouds over the sun,
the yin and yang of it all,
we look back
on a day
or a year
and see only moments.
scattered and watery,
in colour or black and white
for memory is like that
elusive and ever changing.
“The ocean takes care of each wave till it gets to shore.”
~ Mawlana Jalai- al-Din Rumi, The Essential Rumi
 |
| Victoria Park, Regina, Saskatchewan |
The heat offered me a bench in the park,
a breeze at my back and
a lingering summer day.
Once more the calendar
had been challenged by
the shifting weather.
Two errands completed,
each with a good stroll between
with a stop for lunch and tea.
Businessmen and women, shoppers,
and teens that should have been in school
walked and strolled, laughed and talked,
read a book or just enjoyed the shaded sun
for what has become a memory of today.
“In solitude we give passionate attention to our lives,
to our memories, to the details around us.”
~ Virginia Woolf, writer
(1882 ~ 1941)
Cool evening rain-washed air
Wind slowed to a whisper
Gentle remnants of a rainy day.
“August rain: the best of the summer gone, and
the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time.”
~ Sylvia Plath, poet
(1932 ~ 1963)
Yesterday vanished into memory,
today ~ a birthday delight with family,
tomorrow is an open, uncharted road.
“I have gone into yesterday and tomorrow
and both were a real as today ~
which is like the dreams of ghosts!”
~ Robert E. Howard, author
(1906 ~ 1936)
Recalling each moment past
is no easier than stopping
the flow of water whether
river, lake or ocean with
trees lining their banks
dipping their branches low
shelters for birds and
our memories
Watching clouds in the sky
~ moving vessels of memory
golden at sunset
or red at sunrise
clouds of white puffs,
storm clouds filled
with thunder and lightning
Recalling each yesterday when we look.
“Memory is not frozen it’s very much alive, it moves, it changes.”
~ Louis Malle, film director
(1932~ 1995)
Yesterday remembers
plans pushed aside for
plans from the day before
forgotten and revived
Yesterday remembers
the crazy busyness of the phone
or someone coming to the door or
breaking a favourite ornament
Yesterday remembers,
in the midst of today,
as a dream that vanishes
all frayed and gauzy.
Yesterday remembers
what must be done today with
hope that we will pick up the
loose threads and weave a new tapestry.
“If you fell down yesterday, stand up today.”
~ H.G.Wells, writer
(1866 ~ 1946)
Yesterday remembers…
Entertaining choices….
Suspending time….
Time slipped….
Everything went…..
Recalling each…..
Dreading what…
Ambition to…..
Yawning despite…..
“I can’t go back to yesterday ~ because I was a different person then.”
~ Lewis Carroll, writer
(1832 ~ 1898)
Tomorrow is a day
I will never have to remember
for when the stars welcome it
with that gossamer shift
from tomorrow to today, there is
a whisper of hope for the future.
“If you’ve got a today, don’t wear it tomorrow.
Tomorrow never happens it’s all the same day.”
~ Janis Joplin, singer
(1943 - 1970)
 |
| Kelowna Farmers Market 2008 |
Memory lane ~
always populated with
smiling faces and scenes.
Opportunity swirled me
back to my Texas journey;
onward to my Kelowna years
at Hazeldell Orchards.
Feeling Lubbock's hot dry air,
hearing and seeing tones of a
another land; the warm hearts
of colleagues in a golden time.
I could feel the carpeted halls,
step inside the curve of the
nursing station, as crowded
and busy as my memories
In Kelowna, air was moist and cool,
pears and apples were juicy and crisp
at my weekend ‘job’ where
the hearts were just as warm ~
a time when my nursing work
was set aside for a few days,
or a month, to live, laugh and
work outside while seasons changed.
Memory lane ~
always populated with
smiling faces and scenes.
“Nostalgia: A device that removes the ruts and potholes from memory lane.”
~ Doug Larson, columnist & editor
(1926 - 2017)
Red things,
things that sparkle with memory,
Christmas mugs ~
the porcelain one with a Santa or
the big bellied one for hot chocolate,
satiny slippers and fuzzy pyjamas
snowmen with red scarfs
and holly tucked in the hat band
shiny red balls with gold trim
candles, squat and round
a delicate glass reindeer on the tree
a cheerful gnome in long winter cap!
“Remembrance, like a candle, burns brightest at Christmastime.”
~ Charles Dickens
