Do Not Mourn the Past, but Embrace the Now

I should not mourn for the things I have lost,

Yet I cling to those memories like a life raft and

Mourn the days of trumpets and special music performances,

Neighborhood playgrounds and decorating classrooms in August.

Now my baritone voice has grown silent and my

Trumpet has long-since been sold.

Now I take joy in the music of others and smile at the

Mobiles hung in the classrooms of teachers bursting with infectious idealism.

Now knowledge is my canvas, and words are my paint as

I train others to see through the eyes of love and give voice to the silent.

Former passions have been replaced by new ones, as I embrace the blessings of bygone love

And watch children become teenagers and college-goers become dedicated adults.

I do not mourn their lost childhood, but cherish my new role as watcher and guardian.

Now I see the path that is before me; looking back does no good, but only

Reminds me of broken twigs and failures I left in the path for others to clean up.

I cannot change the past, nor is it prudent to dream of time traveling

Machines and unconscious what-ifs

Because the past, like a classic novel, has already been written.

The now is all that remains, even as I look toward some imagined future of eternal reward;

That bright and shining city tempts me to rest in my past triumphs,

But my only way is forward.

There are still castles to explore and dragons to fight as I trek this mysterious journey,

Holding on to the past as a quiver of arrows to protect the precarious path ahead.

The past is only a faint yet powerful memory that stubbornly holds us fast to nostalgia, which

Satisfies for a moment, but in the end rusts like a creaky gate.

Do not mourn the immutable past, but embrace the now

As you move forward in grace, dignity, and purpose.