I Forget More Than I Remember
By John Herlihy

I
I forget more than I remember,
The first day of school in September,
A trip through the white mountains in June,
The first time I ate ice cream with a spoon.
Things happened that seemed totally real,
In forgetting, they have now lost their appeal.
Things that happened in another life,
I was another person walking along another knife.

II
Let me not forget what should be remembered,
Honesty, honor and a life fully attended.
Let me forget nothing more that I need to know,
Time’s shadows are lengthening across my ship’s bow.
Let me forget nothing more before all is lost,
Lost forever in the ice of the earth’s permafrost.
Let me only forget those things I can afford to lose.
An expired lottery ticket, an old pair of shoes.

III
What will I remember if I am willing to forget.
In forgetting, I only gather fresh reasons to regret.
Why should I remember if the memory makes me upset?
Some things need not be remembered and should be forgotten.
A bit of treachery sliced me open, a piece of fruit gone rotten.
Some things never actually enter the halls of memory,
A lost love, an unexpected death, a hateful enmity.

IV
Some things are not actually part of my memory,
Even though I may want them to be.
Some things do not need to be remembered,
Because they were never actually a part of me.
In forgetting you have no memory, nothing to lose,
No memory of what gives you joy or a feeling of the blues.
Nothing in your past life can any longer frighten you,
You have done nothing seriously wrong, no cause to sue.
 
V
If you cannot remember to be frightened,
Nothing can fill you with emotional pain.
If you cannot remember, then the burden is lightened,
There is no longer reason to preserve the stain.
Remembering seems like a rain of gentle blows,
Forgetting is something buried under winter’s snows.
Remembering rides life’s arrow to the bull’s eye,
Forgetting takes away the need to say goodbye.