Memories

 MEMORY

Once in my twenties after college 

after a summer of adventures and service

in the mountains of Honduras,

I sat on a log by the Russian river

as it flowed,

silence was there

memory was there

as I counted fish swimming

as I looked up to a cathedral of clouds,

That was a time to smile

a time to laugh

a time to pray

to dip two feet in the cool winter run-off,

I knew the moment had something to tell

but held back,

memories were there as well

kind and unkind but past,

songs from birds drifted by and faded

a breeze swept in.

I wrote on a stiff leaf i’d found,

wrote a memory and let it float away 

float downstream to the future

which was unseen

but was also here by me, in me.