The Tragedy And Fragility Of Memory Poem by Patrick Fleskes

Nostalgic tapping,

That deep, dark mineshaft,

Up and down the mind,

The never complacent present,

That untouchable past,

Fluttering away so quickly,

No time to weep for misplaced, displaced hours,

The wasted years, film roll...

Time and space eclipsing the soul,

Much like love,

And yet it's omnipresent,

Eternal,

Yes,

The past is long gone,

Left to the imperfect photographs of the mind,

Like rustic photo's of bygone era's,

Those smiles caught,

Obscured by brown haze,

I remember her.

Perfect.

Lest my mind deceives me,

Lest it degrades,

A lifetime span of memory,

Sweepin' me off the feet of the present,

I remember the first eye contact,

Those deep blues, river water,

(remember when you cried, I'd say the river's-a-weepin'?) ,

Your freckled face, divine imperfection,

Those awkward first words,

In days where girl's were still icky,

And boy's still had cooties,

The first kiss,

The timid surrender of passion,

I fondly remember the love,

Distastefully recall the despair, the debt,

Those hard times stackin' like bricks,

I remember the good times,

Stackin' like cards,

I remember everything.

Each action and word.

Lest, I think I do,

... do I?