Forces Matter out There

Have you noticed people
Relish, or feel the need,

At least, to recollect
Early intersections

With pivotal events?
Where they were as a child

When X happened, when X
Was elected, when X

Was assassinated,
When X’s war began,

When the quake, when the storm,
When the tower, the deaths.

It’s the distance, really,
The way some big event

Shaded and underlined
An ordinary day

In the life of a child
Who was where were you then.

Dark magic, wasn’t it?
How that one quiet day

Or small conversation
Or something parents said

You couldn’t understand
As you stood in the light

Of the hall, made you feel,
Maybe for the first time,

That what happens to you,
Good or bad, is nothing

To whatever unseen
Forces matter out there.