Like Condensed Milk

Like Condensed Milk

An analepsis flashes before me,
scenes of your life
once so deeply entwined with mine
days when nothing happened to me
without you and nothing happened
to you without me
and we weren’t “one” but
your little hugs and graces
your distorted drawings
and cards saying
“For Mom”
decorated the fridge, the bedroom mirror,
so plentiful I could send some
to relatives and friends,
nothing missed in the sparing.

This year you will marry
and time is now condensed milk,
a thick syrupy concoction
all excess boiled away,
sugar added
sweetening all things
even loss,
and the pictures of your
young life crash and flash before me
and it's true what they say
how it all collapses into a moment
when looking back,
the hour’s a vapor,
the days, a dream.

Author: Karen Warinsky

Photo:  Rosalind Chang on Unsplash

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