NOSTALGIA -- but you can't go back!

NOSTALGIA – but you can’t go back!

A friend returned recently from a trip to Canada –
Where she tried to visit old friends,
And reconnect with once-familiar places.
She lived up there long enough to pine,
Sometimes, to move back and be Canadian again.
But her ties and obligations are here, now.

And she found it true –“you can’t go back!”
So many changes to once-favored places.
So many dreams, now only empty spaces.
Few people that she used to know are still around.
One friend she especially favored,
Was dead. I guess she hadn’t heard. Oh, my!
So much for nostalgia –
What seemed the most winsome memories,
Are graces that no longer exist.

Life does move on -- sometimes with a laugh,
More often with a dreary sigh.
Our ties and obligations are right where we are.
We make fresh opportunities now, or kick the traces.
We entrust ourselves to God each day.
Only he remains changeless, true:
Cheering, comforting, and caring,
Planting smiles and washing tears from our faces.

Photo and poem (c) 2010 by Marilee Miller