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Our past seems like an age ago
A distant and fond memory
An echo of laughter and sadness
That rumbles away down the years

Remember the time that I told you
Of imminent, life changing plans
We discussed the alternative options
And dissected the future at hand

We spoke on the phone for a lifetime
We chatted from dusk until dawn
We solved the world’s problems and issues
We talked about nothing at all

Embracing all my imperfections
You treasured my soul anyway
You cherished ideas and discussion
And valued what I had to say

We’d years of affection and laughter
And burying our sorrows with beers
We’d go walking and talking on days out
And spoke of our innermost fears

But life has a way of reproving
Belief that all time will stand still
Reality comes chasing, unceaseless,
Overtaking our plans and our will

And now we have spouses and babies
And houses and mortgages too
And days just seem to go faster
And time slinks away from our view

Then one day you hear distant echoes
That whisper at you from afar
You listen and **** your ear higher
And slow down, remember, and smile
Minarets stand tall and sleek and
proud, announcing prayers at
intervals at odds with the
hourly bells of the basilica
Red rooves jostle for space
amid bullet-ridden history and
rejuvenated, freshly painted
homes and tourist-inducing
restaurants and market shops selling
trinkets: silk scarves, bronze pots
wooden flutes and ubiquitious
paintings of Stari Most
Crowds fill the lane leading
to the revered bridge, like pilgrims
A heady mix of peaceful
nations, short skirts
passing by headscarves
trading surreptitious glances
snapping photos of the bridge or
themselves and the bridge or
loved ones and the bridge
Watching with a rooftop drink
a bold and daring young man
small and youthful from a distance
encourages support and jumps
into the cold Neretva river
vigorously proving life goes on

— The End —