When We Look Back, What Will We See?

When the boxes are packed
When the windows are clean
When the floors have been swept
When the flowers have bloomed
When we've removed our clothes
When the children have grown
When the prayers are complete
When the prisoners are free
When the seas have stopped rising
When the babies are smiling
When the ache has subsided
When the doors are closed
When the last locks are turned
When the guilty parties have paid
When we've gone all the way gray

When we look back, what will we see?

The way the days and months
blurred into seasons
and how our bodies softened
and our voices strengthened

The choices we made for each other
The grievances we put away

How we made each other laugh
and safe
and stuck it out when running away
might have seemed easier

The birds, the dogs, the books,
the meals, the pain, the lost years
The finding and forgetting
and finding again

All the while asking
the impossible question,
where did the time go

as if maybe someday an answer
might present itself
fleetingly
like a sunset
just under the long horizon