I remember

It blooms, it fades it fades
And memories float past in a daze
Knowing time is still softening raw edges
A jagged outline of what’s now gone
Layers of pages, stories, laughter
Secret evenings of tender confessions
Vulnerability, love and wonder
Now I sit and wonder what comes after
When rent asunder, trust I’d given
When disintegrated, good intentions
So much history, tarnished, broken
Saved to folders I no longer open

Did they not know how much I loved?
Memorised voices, favourites, faces,
Learned habits, pastimes, idiosyncracies
Found family in the safety of their gaze
And now empty earth lies open, bare
The impression left of plants uprooted
We busy ourselves with new growth
And let soil resettle post turmoil
Knowing that trust will never return
Their narrative is rewoven without my thread

And now I know empty eyes will drift
Past mine, not even a stranger to acknowledge
The earth still turns and seasons shift
But I carry with me this knowledge
For all the heartbreak, still memories of time
When there was love behind those eyes
But I can’t forget the story that was mine
I remember, I remember
I remember