Cairns of Memories

The calendar in my heart
A lifelong accessory
Each date a place to start
Cairns of memories

Small stones worn smooth
Rubbed between worrying fingers
Cumbersome boulders
Where the pain still lingers

Not linear or flat
As calendars are wont to be
Too predictable that
For a cairn of memory

Days are laid down
In rich fertile soil
Some fed with a frown
To others smiles are the toil

Squat and flat
Tall and lean
All just that
A cairn of memory

Built not to rhyme or reason
Like a calendar on the wall
Eschewing year and season
Mindful when teardrops fall

My soul-felt offering
My private grief
Some life altering
Others a relief

Destined for the ether
When my last breath is drawn
Yet setting my life meter
In the gloaming and at dawn

~ Ellen Apple 08/13/2016