Daily Flash Fiction Challenge

In the realms of yesterday's dreams,
A trinket's lost, or so it seems.
An object faint, a memory dear,
It's gone, it's vanished, and the cost is clear.

"I can't find it anywhere," I cry,
To the wind, to the earth, to the cloudless sky.
The hills echo back, with a sorrowful moan,
A tale of things once had, but now gone.

Through valleys and forests, and rivers so wide,
I searched and I sought, with time on my side.
But the more I looked, the less I could see,
The thing I had lost, where could it be?

It's not in the market, nor in the glen,
It's not in the faces of women or men.
It's not in the whispers of the ancient tree,
"I can't find it anywhere," my constant plea.

A wise old owl, with eyes so profound,
Heard my lament, my sorrowful sound.
"Look not for things, but memories and love,
For they are within you, not below or above."

The trinket's a metaphor, a lesson to learn,
For what's truly valuable, one can't discern.
It's the love, the joy, the journey, the friends,
These are the treasures that never will end.

"I can't find it anywhere," I once complained,
But now I see clearly, nothing's lost or gained.
The trinkets we cherish, they come and they go,
It's the wisdom we gather that truly does grow.

So search not without, but look deep within,
The treasures you seek are where they've always been.