There's a piece
Of my memory missing.
I know what happened
In the years before that summer
And the years after,
But those 3 months
Back in 1996
Are gone somehow.
Reduced to a few hazy,
Undeveloped flashbacks
That disappear
Before I can catch them.
There's only one
Single photograph of her.
She's running through fog
Along the dock
Up by a lake in the mountains.
Her back is to the camera
And there's raindrops in her hair.
Across the water by the dark treeline
You can see houses with lighted windows.
I don't remember that place
And I cannot remember her face
Or what her voice sounded like.
I don't know her name
Or how we met.
I don't remember her touch
Her smell
Or anything we had done together.
I don't even remember her leaving.
But I do know I had loved her
More than I had ever
Loved anything or anyone else.
I know she had taken
A piece of my heart with her.
Somehow I'm sure
I had been the one holding the camera
And I know in my subconscious
That summer, though erased,
Had been the best days of my life.
I've tried to find her,
Searched high and low for so long
But everyone says
There had never been a girl
And I did not go traveling that year.
They say
That lake doesn't exist anywhere here
And there's no evidence
That it ever did.
I must be losing my mind.
But I won't give up
Every time I start to doubt
That photograph reassures me
That she was real.
I don't understand
What the hell is going on here
But I will find her.
I will never stop looking
Even if it takes many lifetimes.
I promise.
YOU ARE READING
From The Vaults Of My Mind
Poetry"But time it is. Time be cruel. Time did pass. And so did you. And you're losing your memory now. I hope one day you'll find me in the place where the lost things go." - Mash up of quotes by people who are not me.
