Life gone missing
by Elouise
Disoriented
and out of touch
the old woman
blinks hard peering
at old photos
in scrapbooks–
traces of life
now gone missing
Is that building
still standing and
did the hurricane
demolish the
lovely roller rink
firmly rooted in
yesterday’s pristine
sand washed clean
with every tide?
Questions.
Nothing more
rises to the surface
of my weary mind trying
to visualize the way
back home
Yes, this could be about getting old. It’s also about how quickly we, as a conglomeration of nations, seem to be sinking into quicksand. Are we ready for this? How are we to live in the face of death and destruction at every turn?
Though victory has sometimes been snatched from certain defeat, I’m not convinced that will happen anytime soon.
Which brings me to the big question: Am I ready to die?
This is about more than being spiritually ready to die. It’s about not knowing what will happen next, no matter how carefully I may have planned for today or tomorrow. It’s about being bold in the way I live each day, knowing it could end at any moment. Not just from health issues, but from worldwide chaos, festering anger, lust for power, or attempts to wipe out people based on gender, color, religion, or whatever those in power love to hate.
One more question: What does it mean to make chaos my home? In the poem I end up trying to remember the way back home. Perhaps the poem is challenging me to find my way home. Not to what’s old or familiar back there, but to what’s real and certain right now, 21st-century style.
Am I ready for this? If so, how does that mean for the way I live today?
Elouise♥
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 17 March 2022
Double exposure taken (by accident) by DAFraser and a friend, August 1963 at Tybee Island Beach
Telling the Truth 
Memories are only good if we can recall them. At 75 I can’t remember what I did yesterday sometimes let alone 60 years ago. Due to living in so many places I have lost tons of things that would help me recall memories. So I work on making new ones, for those will bring a blessing now.
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Thanks for your comment, Betty. Today’s world isn’t very inviting when it comes to our future. And yes, there are many memories we’ll never recall. Overall, it seems the less inviting memories being made today are too often taking first place. Which makes working on new memories more difficult than ever. Especially when they’re linked to events or people with whom we have few if any ongoing connections.
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I think you might speak for quite a few who have had similarities in our lives.
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Thanks, John. Sometimes I feel like a creature from another planet. Strange and unknown. A relic of the past. Yuck.
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Guess what, Elouise. You are and so am I. We’ve done what we can and it’s up to them now. And there are many good ones amongst them. So stop fretting.
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I’m not fretting. I’m looking at reality–which still includes all of us old folks, whether we like it or not. We can’t simply throw up our hands and leave it all to the next generations. We helped shape this mess.
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Hello Elouise, This is Robin from Australia. John’s sister. Please don’t think that it is odd but I would like your postal address please. I promise there is no bomb inside. We are moving house at the moment and I am at sixes and sevens. Haven’t read email for days. Would love to hear from you Robin Hicks
On Fri, Mar 18, 2022 at 1:53 AM Telling the Truth wrote:
> Elouise posted: ” Disoriented and out of touch the old woman blinks hard > peering at old photos in scrapbooks– traces of life now gone missing Is > that building still standing and did the hurricane demolish the lovely > roller rink firmly rooted in yesterd” >
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Hi, Robin. I’m so happy to hear from you. I just sent you an email. I pray this day will have unexpected moments of peace and joy. Packing to move is a horror no matter where you’re going. Also a sometimes painful reminder of how much of our lives go missing.
Elouise
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I love this post!!! I can completely relate. Looks like then entire world —us human beings—are through some kind of shift, some kind of slap-in-your-face realignment that the pandemic couldn’t seem to fix. Thanks for your eyes, your ears and your heart. You help to realign your readers.
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Thank you, Janet, for your encouraging comment. Your description of our current sickness is spot on. I love bringing the pandemic into the picture. A sure sign of our downhill, out of alignment dilemma.
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