Memories

It came to my mind

Like a piece of paper

Ripped out of a notebook

For safekeeping

Random words scattered

Across a battered little scrap

Revealed the power of the mind’s eye

A long forgotten world

Returned to life

Disjointed laughs

And the essence of voices

Grew into something more clear

Until faces and eyes

And long-forgotten lies

Sprang back into being

And from the trance

I knew all that I saw

Was the shadow

Of all that I lost

And I come back to the present,

Open my eyes to see

That what I was scared most of losing

Was still sitting in a chair before me.

Regret

An unwanted visitor,
      but willingly treated
Heavy chains
      on your heart are seated
Unvented frustration,
     dutifully greeted
Mistakes and double-takes,
      tightly plaited...

But the past is a worn out dress,
      Mistakes a torn up book.
Moving forward, undeterred, undeviating,
      Without a backward look

Searching for lost hope,
      in every cranny, every nook
One bright golden penny,
      in the fast-flowing brook.

A flicker, a shimmer, of sunlight in the sea,
      and happiness appears, like a huge library.