-- Living Memory --

John Herlihy

Memory lives with us every day of our lives,

In informing us who we are, our past thrives.

Small wonder, then, we call it living memory,

The pieces of a puzzle that all add up to be me.

Like us, it too is in exile, just feeding off the land,

It too is in transit, passing time to withstand.

Ah, how those moments simply lay in hiding,

Waiting quietly within us, our secrets abiding.

All that we remember forms an intricate web,

What happened, who we were, our reality fed.

When I was once young and when I would be old,

All the sweet and harsh remembrance ever told.

All the memories hang around, like a smile gone,

Soft as wind to feel but not see, the moment born.

The event, the feeling gone, but somehow still here,

Every little thing that happened somehow still near.

All memory floating like fog in the damp, chilly air,

To follow along, as I follow into a future calling there.

Gather memory together and it all seems a dream,

High as the sky, deep as the sea, know what I mean?

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(c) John Herlihy 16 May 2019