December

December : Will the heart remember?

I look through the old album

and I remember the place

where I was a child, the elder

tree at the end of the soft lawn

where I lay cool and sheltered

from the summer blue-sky sun,

and watched the kaleidoscope

of changing patterns as the

shimmering leaves swayed 

gently in the far away calm

of those magical afternoons.

But what if the old brown photo

no longer stirs the memory?

What if I see only a pale web

of crumpled leaves cold against

a sky overcast by smoke black

clouds, heralding the coming 

of drenching rain which blots

out the innocent happiness

of that long carefree season?

Memory will be found wanting,

maybe the heart will remember.

From the cliff top I can gaze

far across the sweep of the bay

to where we had our happy

times in the modest chalet set

amongst the copper beaches

where squirrel and nuthatch

visited our veranda, and we

were young again in our love

for the place and the wonder 

of our shared passion and joy.

This is my raft of sweet recall.

But what if from that cliff top

I perceived only a misty veil,

curtain dark in the twilight?

What if all that happiness

were to fade into amorphous

shadows on an old stone wall?

How would my life be then, if

I should no longer remember

him, my lover and my friend?

Can the heart’s recollections

prevail against an empty brain?

I can only forget that which is

already done and departed.

Smoke beyond the horizon,

which I have not yet seen, is 

a chimaera of the imagination,

white on white, black writ on

black, blank in the dawning of

tomorrow’s forgotten dream.

Thus, while memory remains,

in hope and faith I will pray

that a heart nurtured by love

may cherish an abiding peace.

Envoi

The Days of Birth and the Days of Death

are the only days of a life which rarely pass unnoticed. 

They remain in the consciousness as milestones 

both to sorrow and to joy.

They are in each life unique Days of New Year.

This day and every day of my New Year

God grant I will remember you.

Amen   So may it be.
                                             Naomi