Things Past

In the late afternoon

as the wind blows cold off the mountain

I walk a path often traveled

This day there is the smell of wood smoke

Good pine burning

and I am taken back

to a time

when as a pre-schooler I sat

by my mother’s side at girl scout camp (she was the nurse)

and smelled that smell

as the campfire blazed

and the girls sang

“my gals a corker”

“do your ears hang low”

and worse

I am taken back

quickly

to boy scout camp

and then to fires around which

my young children romped

as we traveled the west

so many things take us back

to moments profound

moments painful

moments joyful

and we remember things past

and we experience them more profoundly

than we did the first time

parents

friends

lovers

God

all come alive

in the sounds and smells and sights

love