Book Of Memories Poem by Tom Higgins

I look forward to the future,
As I look back upon the past,
And I hope I'll keep remembering
For as long as my life may last,

And I hope that my album of life
Will have an expanding trend,
And that my ability to refer to it
Will stay with me to the end.

I hope its colours never fade
Or its bright reflections dull
For from these is the person made,
And a life can never be full.

Unless the memory stays clear
For those remaining days
Without fading into the mists
Of an autumnal evening's haze

To gradually disappear
Into a wintry fog bound Hell
For a man without a memory
Is a mere empty shell.