Forgotten Memories
2021, Junior, Poetry & Spoken Word
Listen, child.
Let me tell you a story,
A tale about the time before
Before we had forgotten,
Back when the ocean was blue
And the seagulls skimmed the glassy waves,
Shrieking as they flew.
They used to dip down a wingtip
To scrape the crest of a sapphire swell
And rise again to soar into the sky
Circling like a carousel.
A feather might fall down, and rest atop the waves
To float there for a moment
Before ‘twas swept away.
The seagulls now have flown away
In search of a kinder shore
But their feathers still bear memories
Of days spent long ago.
Do you remember, child,
What I told you once before?
The story I spun for you one night
Of the ocean’s treasure store?
The sea remembers, little one,
It holds all memories,
A seagull’s feather, a bottled note,
All members in its treasury.
Why do you think we used to hold
Shells up to our ears?
Every shell holds a whisper-breath
Of the sea that used to be.
I used to walk upon the sand,
Before our oil turned it black.
I watched my footprints disappear
Whenever I glanced back.
The sea rose up to claim the marks
My feet pressed into the shore
With a rushing swoop and a foaming breath
They were taken to the treasure store.
You’ll never know what it was like, my child,
To walk beside the sea.
There are no more shells to hold to your ear
To hear the waves crash free
But the sea remembers the time before,
And it keeps safe
All the forgotten memories.