what is there to tide us over in times of grief or desolation if not for memories? unforgotten pasts colored in the moments that exist, colliding with the metaphysical realities that exists within our brilliant minds, palpable, tangible, hold them close and feel them in your bones, hear their mellifluous laughter echoing in your eardrums, and feel their soft kisses placed every so gently on your face, remember the smell of their cologne before it fades, lost into the spaces that fill the holes of our existence. to remember is a gift because memories are all we have left once the dust settles and the silence rings deaf in our ears.