A Poem

Someone 
should have told me
about 30 years ago

To not only 
store away 
those little moments
but 
to lovingly take them out 
from time to time
and remember

the sight 
the smell 
the sound
the summer reunions
the holiday meals
the desultory conversations
the uncontrolled laughter

In the arrogance of 
those endless 
times when 
all my loved ones were still 
enfolding me
in that cocoon of 
familial security

Before my appreciation of 
how wonderful life can be
eroded away 
in the travails of time

And my soul found this yearning
for then 
and 
apprehension
of now