when you are driving
down a familiar highway
more slowly
more carefully
than you used to
and memories
rush back
with a surprising
lack of pain
the resentment
the ache
the sting
replaced
by amusement
ah, the messiness of youth
you say with ease.
how strange
and how sweet
to find
bitterness
mellowed
by time
to find
yourself
older, softer,
healed.
narinda heng 