Bare Bones

Reunion (true story) – 

I glimpsed a stonewashed picture
of a once youthful you,
in my mind’s eye,
from very long ago,
trying to gather steady form,
to the soundtrack of my stable pace,
your image trying hard to subsist,
in full-form and all its detailed glory,
despite the prevailing buildings and cars speeding by –
distractions amiss. 

When there ahead of me,
with not another in sight,
your figure looming,
looking straight at me,
and me at you,
my pace slackening,
and your timeworn depiction –
now ageless momentarily –
came hurtling back at me,
in a sepia-transformed presence and
a tunnel-visioned reality of
a surreal melting of buildings and vehicles
our footsteps stop.
Our eyes lock.
Our paths meet.
And here we are once again. 

In a moment, things can change from vivid colour to clear-cut laser-focused black and white. It’s like having x-ray vision and you can see the bare bones of reality. The past merges into the present and a full, comprehensive picture is formed. Have you ever been in that situation? Compare a snapshot of a memory to something you encounter today, whether it be a person or a place. If you’re lucky it will feel like a new dimension suddenly appears before you. It gives depth and makes all the pieces to a puzzle come together. It all falls into place and makes sense. Most times, however, we’re not so fortunate.

But it’s like a magical momentous opportunity when it does happen. And it allows you to experience a surrealism that can’t be explained.

I met a very old friend recently whom I hadn’t seen from a lifetime ago. Think quarter of a century ago. Our reunion was exactly how I described at the start of this post. I was attending a work event to which I knew she was also going to be there but I hadn’t spoken or seen her since our university days long long ago. My friend was exactly how I remembered her. She hadn’t changed a bit. If nostalgia can be personified, this was it. Not only did it bring back pleasant memories of carefree days, it helped me remember how I was back then. It was an honest recollection of a trueness to me, which makes it all the more meaningful if the other person remembers you too as you were back then.

X-rays reveal another dimension to our existence. Our bones are essentially the mechanics that keep us going. We keep on moving and relying on these fascinating mechanisms that we take for granted. And in the midst of the multitudes of shades and shadows of colour and hues, its fitting that x-rays are in black and white, revealing our bare bones in all honesty and simplicity. Just like a reunion reveals it all in an instant. It either all makes pleasant sense with a familiarity that brings nostalgia and joy or else it ends up being an unnecessary confusion to an altered sense of reality.