We have all had
Life affirming encounters
With people we will never see again,
Yet who remain
In our memories.

Fleeting but powerful.

And we have listened intently
To stories told;
Of life and lived experiences,
Stories that tell the truth and
Stories that advance culture;

And we know that these are not necessarily the same.

Wisdom gained.

And recollections vary
From person to person
At different times,
In different moods and under
Different circumstances.
And we have shared our own. As we must. And we hope that our voices are heard. Understood.

Because life is like that;

Largely luck and
Full of coincidence
And incidence
And insolence
At unexpected moments.

Yet, what is there to understand,

When putting life into perspective?

When roles change
And the good intentions
Of the well meaning
Result in a loss of self-determination?
And tension.

Life is all erosion

And deposition

Yet we listen still, as we do,
With open minds
And open hearts
Respectful, hopeful
And full of expectation,

As we look at life in different ways. Through your eyes. And theirs. And hear

Some say that music stopped with Mozart, others, with the Beetles.
But all music connects across and through generations,
And dancing makes you feel alive
Forever and,
In those briefest of moments,

Connected. Connected

Through the sounds, the beats, the rhythms of reminiscence
And the coalescence
of souls, lost and found,
The presence of mind
Over matter, to landscapes where

You don’t need language
To cry together
In silence,
About love
And loss.

And renaissance.

Where there is always reassurance

In noticing nature, bird song
And bluebells and
Those evocative scents
That take us right back
To that time and place.

We are reconnected.

We are bound together through our attachments and trust,
In our needs and desires
To reach out
And touch,
To be touched, to be moved,
To talk, to be heard,
To remember, to share,
To think, to feel, to breathe, T
o learn
To know what it is
To be human

And connected.
”