Monday 12 July 2021

A case or two

 





There’s not much in this house that can be packed –

not the wall where a child’s milestones were tracked,

the books yes, but not the afternoons when

they were read. A knife, not what it’s cut open.

That’s always sliced solely to be left behind.

There’s nothing much really that can be taken

however small they’re chopped and folded compact,

however ruthlessly downsized and streamlined.

 

The fruit's consumed, the tree can't be uprooted -

taking a few cases  will not recreate

the skin, the existence you’ve moulted out of.

What’s here is here, it cannot be rerouted,

moved smoothly to a different plane and state.

All you’ll carry is faint memories of love.










10 comments:

  1. Moments in time cannot be packed like things.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nope, they can't. Very little can be packed, actually.

      Delete
  2. Hi Nila - I don't remember moving out of my childhood home - my parents did it, at the time of their separation ... sad - but you've described that passage of time, so well - not many could give a viewpoint as you have done ... time, place and 'life' as it happens. Certainly ... I've never felt that passing from the various places I've lived - but it does. Excellent expressed - thank you ... cheers Hilary

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Hilary, I've moved into and out of many homes, first with my parents and later with my husband. This here is the distilled wisdom from all the moving about :)

      Delete
  3. Hari OM
    ... left like a snake's cast, offered to the winds of time. YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh my.
    Though I suspect those memories of love are stronger than faint.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My personal experience is that all memories (of concrete things) fade, even those made with love. What doesn't fade is the way they made one feel at a particular point in time.

      Delete
  5. Only the memories can we take with us.

    ReplyDelete