after the fall part 8: all the things we had

it seems so strange now to think
of all the things we had - all the
glittering, silly, distracting things
and how pleasant our lives were, how
we took it all for granted.
we must have thought that the fates owed it all to us -
all the coffee makers and compact discs,
the motorcycles, jet skis, gourmet chocolates,
camcorders, 300-thread count sheets, movies and plasma screens -
so many things we hardly knew what to do with them all.
i remember sleeping comfortably in
a safe warm bed, wrapped snugly in
my belief that tomorrow might be a better day.
i remember how nice it was to sit out
on my patio drinking white wine in spring with
the sweet smell of flowers wafting through the air.
i remember before the oceans rose, when our beachfront condos
weren't replacements for the coral reefs we destroyed,
when the sky wasn't smeared black with fallout,
when the water used to be clear.
most of all i remember how love seemed
as though it might be waiting around the corner
ready to embrace our hearts at any moment -
and when kindness was a luxury we could all afford.