Memories evoke a
painful joy,
Evoke a harsh and bitter tenderness.
Maybe that's the price of happiness:
One loves what time or tempest will destroy.
Remember, then, those whom you have loved
In mingled joy and sorrow. Sing a song
As beautiful as is your love, and mourn
Like one who is by some chance blessing moved.
Days of mourning are a celebration,
A dance whose healing grace sustains relation,
Yielding grief that will redemptive
prove.
Copyright by Nicholas Gordon. Free for personal or non-commercial use.
