Afterwards - What Stayed

Afterwards, many of the details began to fade.

I forgot names, distances and small moments that had seemed important at the time. What remained was the feeling of having been there, and a certain unease that never completely disappeared.

I came back more aware of the differences between the lives I had seen and my own, and more attentive to things I might once have passed without noticing.

That is what I remember most.

What remains, quietly on display.