Things change. I don’t know why they wouldn’t. It happens all around us. Constantly. Taking place within us and on our very skin. Cells slowly slough. New ones arise, we hope anyway. Memories are lost — perhaps later reclaimed, but even then somehow modified. No two days are the same. The weather. The stock exchange. Even when closed the markets are shifting, like the fates that govern them. Clocks tick. And those that don’t collect dust and fall further behind. People die. Other people mourn. The mourning wanes but never really goes away. Birthdays pass us by. Another year gone. But alive and kicking. Games are won or lost (and ties are just irksome, which is itself an inconstant). School years end. Workplaces downsize. Promotions. Demotions. Even stasis has motion from the rise and fall adjacent. Pictures fade. Plants are tossed. Shoes wear out at the sole. Oh look, a new text message! Now another. Heart emoji. Laugh/cry emoji. A novel obsession replaces the old. Fast fashion. Fake news. Faux passion. Bird flu, new and improved. Currency rates. Tectonic plates. Landfills. Oil spills. Bridges collapse. Woodlands burn. Never a full stop. Always a churn. Some stars collapse while others expand. We turn with the Earth, even as we stand. Temperatures rise, then rise again. Calling to mind whether we can sustain. But there is one thing I’ve read that resisted such change. A McDonald’s cheeseburger that after ten years looked as good, or as bad, as when it first appeared. Though who would dare vouch for its taste??
Great Exudations 