Sitting in a circle around the fire with the ones who know you best

Sitting in a circle around the fire with the ones who know you best

Stories so true, they must be told more than once

You were there.

Living in the past from a circular distance

You were there.

Lyrics to familiar songs, murky in the muddle of memory

released into the crackling light of the fire…remembered.

And forgotten.

Remember when?

Two words start a tumble of tales; intersecting, overlapping, so wild they must be Tall and yet they are True.

You were there.

Louder and louder and louder, the tale rising higher and higher and higher

Cresting, curling, crashing into laughter,

Full bellied

Full throated

Full throttle

Throwing us down at its feet

Receding on a collective breath, lingering smiles in eyes

and faces whose lines have been smoothed by the story

You were there

Raise your glass

We are still here

Sitting in a circle around the fire with the ones who know us best