Bittersweet Reunion

Sunlight gleams on gilded frames

adorns the papered walls;

and chirping birds hover near, 

just outside the windowpane.

Contrasts a daughter’s duty—

gathering family memories 

like fragile orbs of glass; 

vulnerable to the touch. 

A trove of treasured moments 

boxed, cradled on her hip.

Chills cascade while fingers trace 

photos of the past—

the roar of war echoes in the lilies 

of her parent’s wedding day. 

Obliterating youth’s flower 

beneath blood drenched fatigues

while summer’s handmade 

dress tears—billowing in the breeze. 

And she weeps for the future lost, 

engulfed by history’s chaos.

Sixty years of sunsets heralds 

the bittersweet reunion, 

of the mother she adored; 

and father she never met.