over the years life leaves its traces on our bodies, our souls, in our memories
the moment when a broken twig just barely missed the eye of a cavorting child
the first time promises turned into cheats, betrayal, strife adding injustice to the loss of trust
the day when suddenly you could not read the writing on the blackboard any more and needed glasses
the time when playing the piano got so painful that you had to stop dreaming of a pianist’s career
love’s first elations followed by despair and disappointment
some lucky instances as well have kept you kicking & alive until this day
crashing through the old glass door mostly unharmed with your first scooter
during a summer job at the steel mill seeing just your leather working glove and not your hand disappear into the hydraulic power press
getting away with just a crick in your neck when your idiot friend caused a car crash that left only small pieces of your glasses in the wreck
out of them all the scars of loss or threat of loss are such that never die
your little son saved by last-minute surgery
sitting at your daughter’s bed for several days until high fever finally abated
your mother’s unexpected death on the first day of spring
the slow and dreary suffering your father bore with desperate pride a few more years
all these engravings and many more written by the flow of time and space are waiting just around the corner from your daily living room mixed in with fonder memories of joyous time and wonderful events
together they have shaped the person that you are your life, your world