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“You forget I remember nothing”
Presented a history
Supposedly mine
Don’t remember a damn thing
Is that a crime?
Recalling the past?
No I’ve pushed it away
Couldn’t cope with the influence
So tonics of forgetfulness I take
Rifling through pictures
Full of figures unknown to me
Then out jumps a familiar one
A younger version of me I see
Captured in a moment
But it’s a moment that I forget
Though the picture supposedly proves participation
Of its truthfulness I am suspect
Perhaps I did play a part
But perhaps that’s just not true
For pictures are so easily doctored
So I need something else for proof
Captured glimpses and memories
A history of yours they make
I’m detached from those mementos you bring
To not a single one can I relate
Worded facts are then voiced aloud
To prove that images are true
Presented with such a burden of evidence
My denials will no longer do
But if the pictures and words are truthful facts
Then why do I remember not a bit?
Was there an excess of trauma, or too much drama
And so my past I’ve e-sponged all of it?
But the storytellers beseech me, with them rejoice
To cooperate that which they preach
But how can I do that? When fictional are their facts
When of their tales I’ve not a single memory?
Me: Blank expression
Them: Smiles abound
Me: Eyes looking forward
Them: Eyes turned wrong way around
A case has been tried
A decision has been rendered
And that verdict is conclusive
Free to go is the unremembered
Free of past burdens
Free of past decisions
Free to move on
Free to choose my direction
Continuing on with my journey
But first I must bid you farewell
But though I extend you my salutations
You’re nowhere to be found
Me: In the present
You: In the past
And because of these logistics
Our paths will never cross
Live in the present
Dead is the past
Memories forgotten
Focused on present tasks
Seeking new stories
That is my quest
With histories forgotten
Clean is my slate