"Remember" (Original Poem)

A candle with a scent so familiar and nostalgic but ambiguous, elusive.
Where did it come from? What subconscious memory is elicited by such a faint cue?
Among the obligations of life, the memory slips away, lost and made preclusive 
and I surrender to never recalling the prompt of this momentary déjà vu. 

A draft of breeze wafts by, carrying with it a faint essence of a long-forgotten day.
Here a second, gone the next, disappearing before my senses place the faint reminder 
What occasion was tagged to that smell? I search my mind, but the memory has slipped away
and I carry on, creating and logging new moments in my brain's memory binder

Once in a blue moon, the memory to which such a fleeting stimulus is connected
resurfaces from my subconscious and floods me with such rekindled joy for a time past
that I wonder if I knew at the time that the date would leave me so deeply affected
or if I realized the experience would, in my soul, be preserved and forever last

This concept of perpetuity is rarely perceived or understood in the present 
though perhaps this is for the best, as such a profoundly deep and melancholy notion
would taint the joy of the hour and cause the individuals to morosely lament 
the rapid passage of time as it marches ever forward in unstoppable motion

Yet this comprehension, for those who resist such depression, fosters appreciation
for every nondescript, unremarkable, common moment otherwise neglected 
by a race to reach the next monumental milestone and missing the great sensation 
that the most sincere remembrances are built from events so simple and unsuspected

So I often pause and acknowledge the mundane moments, the slow hour, the lazy day, 
not in contempt or fear for their passing, but in love for every detail of blessing:
the warm breeze, the smell of summer sprinklers, the tinkling of the windchime, the people I love,
and cherish this moment, knowing that some day, at the smell of sprinklers, I may be guessing...

and remember. 

~

The Lord bless you
and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26

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