Sunday, October 25, 2015

Commencement

It was a final commencement and the proud
Parents, spouses, friends rang through the Tuthill Court
Holding mylar balloons in celebration
Of the graduates.

As with the colorful students, so eager
To be away, one of these balloons, purple
And gold and shining in the fading sunlight
Escaped from a grasp.

Never built to endure, still it rose, soaring,
Attaining some majesty, into the sky.
The wind pushed it away from us and up and up.
Motionless, it hung

Against a reddening cloud. I set my eyes
On it, determined to follow its voyage
Until I could no longer see it; still, its
Disappearance shocked.

It might as well have never existed, yet
It had been brought here as so vibrant a gift;
But the true gift is the question: What need do
We have of anything

If it cannot persist in our memories for all

It will always mean?

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