Sea and Sky.  Albert Bierstadt (1830- 1902) 

Sitting waiting (and waiting) for meeting and flipping through 'Hudson River School' coffee table book of Paintings that was thoughtfully provided by someone who understood the frequency with which such meetings fail to commence even close to their scheduled time.   This one stood out and provided the muse for today's musing.  

Life is Long

In youth

Dreams

Rise up

as the rain from every summer shower
and winter storm

evaporates and takes flight

 metaphoric
vapors from the roiling sea of familial tides

 clouds take shape 

our unique precipitate

different  (we tell ourselves) 
from those that fed

our father’s dreams

and our mother’s dreams

 We sail from port to port

seeding clouds along the way

with our gaze turned ever

skyward 

We follow them

Year after year 

Cumuli rise, 

Spend their weight

 and drift away

Until in time

The day to day

of the dutiful

and familiar

becomes all that remains 

from horizon 

to horizon.

And now with eyes level on the road ahead
and sometimes behind

We  may glimpse the shadows cast

By (the memory of) clouds gone by

And see that they were never ours alone 

and that it was they

that  followed us.