Reunion

Ever the champion
of the elegantly wise,
wrinkled, well seasoned,
I fantasized since a teen
of how quaint it would be.

How accepting I'd feel,
wonderfully odd and contrary to youth at full sail
Like an adoption into a foreign culture

Now, having become one
of the many elders at a family gathering,
where I know the opportunities
to be together are limited,

Telling the Great Old Tales
comes with a sadness

I was never good at good-byes