sonora2sonoma

Well,

you knew this was going to happen.

Looking through the photos you’ve taken

of the people you know

and the number of people you’ve known

who have gone on,

passed through whatever

lies between here and forever . . .

But you didn’t count on

the emotional element, did you?

People seldom do, I suppose.

I mean, death brings up a lot of emotions,.

especially when it happens up close,

but the kind of emotions stirred up

by the recognition of

the sheer number

of people you know

who’ve made that transition

at this point

are of a kind unto their own.

The Germans probably have a word for it.

***

Changes,

little changes . .

the kind that occur each day

almost unnoticed,

become much easier to recognize

with distance

like that growth spurt

that little Johnny accomplished

in the two months

since you last saw him.

They, and all the other

little changes that accompany

you

as you traverse your path

(with or without your awareness)

become visible at certain times;

not so much incrementally

but en total,

as they coalesce and reveal

the sum that is more than its parts

and you suddenly realize

that the way the world appeared

last summer

is not the way it appears this February

and that the shadow you cast

grows longer with the passage of each season.

29 February 2016

Tim Konrad_