More On Memories Poem by Jim Yerman

Our eldest grandson Damien is looking at colleges and it’s in moments such as these
That I’m reminded to be thankful for the power of memories.

Our days are filled with many magnificent moments in these lives we are completing
But time has fashioned them in such a way to be ephemeral and fleeting.

If after we experienced a moment it was lost forever...how sad our lives would be.
But that’s not the case because we have been blessed with the wonder of memory.

Somehow as we live in any moment before it fades into the past
Miraculously in our minds and hearts a memory is cast.

It seems like only yesterday, in fact I would have sworn
It was, when we were at the hospital watching Damien being born.

I remember walking him in his stroller...we never traveled very far...
Now when he comes to visit he’s driving his own car.

I remember with one hand holding him off the ground as a huge smile crossed his lips
Now if I tried to do that I’d probably break a hip.

One of the beauties of our memories is not only how exquisitely we can weave them
But, no matter where we are, how quickly we retrieve them.

So when Damien drives away at the end of a visit do you know what I see?
I see the little guy in the stroller who used to take walks with me.

When he leans down to give me a hug, in my memory I’ve found
The little boy I used to hold in one hand off the ground.

Perhaps memories are there to bless us and in their own way proclaim
In a world that’s so capricious here’s something that remains the same.

Ah there is the final beauty of memories and it’s a beauty to behold
For unlike these bodies we inhabit our memories never grow old.

We store them is a bottomless lake and no matter how swiftly our life goes
We are able to dip our hands in, pull one out and juxtapose!

So while I sit here seeing the latest picture of Damien, visiting colleges...on his way...
I’m also seeing that tiny baby I held in the hospital that first day.