‘Memento Mori’: A Sonnet by Sasha A. Palmer

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We stick to what we know, what we can touch,
Hold in our hands; unable to foretell
What lies ahead, denying Time with such
Abandonment, pretending we are well
Aware of the truth, we close our eyes
To reason, snapping pictures of the here
And now, though, all the while we do realize
There’s more to carpe diem than a mere
Old book of snapshots on a dusty shelf,
Spring blooms pressed ‘tween the pages—in despair
We cling to them, as Time proceeds by stealth
To do his silent work, and when we care
__To listen, we can hear the silence and—
__If only for a moment—understand.

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Sasha A. Palmer is a Russian-born writer and translator, who currently lives in Baltimore, MD. Sasha is the recipient of international awards in poetry and translation. Her work appeared in Writer’s Digest, Slovo/Word, Cardinal Points and elsewhere. Her website is www.sashaapalmer.com