Rememberings

These are monuments
in miniature, inked
parchments in colour

curated to commemorate
our rites of passage: births,
Bar Mitzvahs, marriage.

Our moments of gratitude
and of lament are traced
along our pilgrimage

in homes and dwelling
places. In the days before
we lived our lives online

the books were opened.
The chambers of the heart
and the impediments

of the mind were pictured
on a map; we could read
the stories of the countries

marked by plains, decipher
valleys laced with riverbeds,
interpret grainy oceans.

The thrall and gaze of lit
space ache. But still, there is
a lampstand in our midst.