How the sadness of
a single human life
compounds with time.

How in a generation, maybe two if we are lucky--

the way our mouths wrinkle into
laughter, the way we can't remember
which dishes go where for the
thousandth time, the way our bodies
have pulsed with rage over small
injustices, the way we cannot hold our
liquor, hold our excitement, hold our
children long enough--

everything is annihilated with the
delicate memories of our loved-ones.

-Paul Cheney