within each moment

it is funny to think that out of thousands of days

lived by the hour, the minute, the second

we only keep a few moments

and it is funny to think that in a world going a mile a minute

we sit in plain desks and stare at the second hand

 

i suppose it must mean that the moments we keep

must be special, golden, glimmering in the dark

they must be spectacular moments, devastating moments

moments that lift us up and bury us deep

moments that make us who we are

 

and sometimes they come when i expect them

in a dimly lit gym with glittering dresses and done-up hair

when that perfect song comes on and we lose ourselves

and i look around and see us all together, one generation

and i wonder how i could ever feel alone

 

but sometimes they come in strange moments

in a car ride on our own through the middle of nowhere

leaning against the passenger door, earbuds in

two of us sleeping in the back and all i can think about

is how much we've grown over the years

 

and i think we forget under pressure

that youth is about making memories, not finding them

or mourning over the loss of them

because in the blur of books, jobs, applications

we forget to hold onto the spots of sunshine

 

like the smiles from nursing home patients

when you walk in wearing your prom dress

because even though your grandmother won't remember

the pictures you took, the laughs you shared

you'll remember the way that she smiled

 

or pizza grease all over your fingertips

a cheap amusement park meal

sun burning your neck as you wait for the ferris wheel

but you don't even care because someone just told a joke

and you can't stop laughing

 

or grass making imprints on your legs in the school forest

second graders scattered before you

and you're supposed to be teaching them symmetry but

one of them throws a marker at your partner's nose

and you giggle along with them at the look on his face

 

i don't want to tie my life down into hours, minutes, seconds

i want to tie it into memories

into moments so golden they seem ethereal

because they always remind me that really

life is short and must be lived

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