Time used to slip away.
Now it skips.
Soon, it will run.
From first grade through high school and beyond,
the bond with old classmates remains strong.
Their faces are still young, to me.
My heart carries the fraught memory
of times spent side-by-side,
as life pushed us away on its tide.
We carry their presence within us with pride.
The me no one ever knew resides in each of us openly now.
I marvel at the person we once hid inside.
Today, we rush ahead of reunion,
meeting for lunch and soulful communion.
Our thoughts and actions have become bolder
as each of us grew older,
except for those who sped ahead.
We honor the lives of those now dead.
We celebrate with impunity
those still part of our hearts’ community.
annarino writes 