Unlike minutes, hours, days
the moments of our lives
are a measure
not of time but of significance
like the moment you first learned
to balance on a bicycle
the moment you first met the man
the woman you would marry

true, sometimes it's a lie
as when you tell your wife
I'll only be a moment dear
meanwhile searching everywhere
for your cellphone, your glasses, your keys

on the cosmic scale a moment
can be a nanosecond
think of the Big Bang
while for an ordinary star
a hundred million years
is scarcely a moment's passing

but in this brief time
the little time we have here
the things we call momentous
happen in minutes, hours, days
and yet we rarely speak
of the minute we met
the hour when we first kissed
the day that we first knew
he or she was the one
for these are the precious
moments of our lives
and by this word we honor
the way they resonate
the moments that give shape
and meaning to our lives
and perhaps in the end
all that we really own
are the moments