Memory

We start from a dark place before we are born,
reach for the ambiguous lightness
beyond
as if we could see through the window
into lighter places,
through a cloudy film.
It's always there in winter, for some.

A tiny glass basket pulls me back to
childhood: its' candy colors, stacks of rings
like playground sing-songs
memories carried as a burden or
a teaching
carried in starts and stops
like drops of water
or shards of crystal glass.

I drink it up.

-- Maureen Shaughnessy

Thanks to Sandy (Inez Indigo) for the use of her photo