Living Tree Poetry

Someone gave us memory
in sepia tones,
rose coloured hints.

Someone knew that the past,
as a door closed, no longer accessible,
was a step too cruel.

So someone gave us sounds
and smells,
scenes to provoke us to reminiscence –

and imagination to fill in the long blanks,
to make a narrative
out of our lives.

Yes, someone gave us minds
that cannot jump fast forward
without casting back,

as though to remember is
to drink our fill
before journeying on –

or maybe to define

the ends of unfinished chapters,
treasure fossickers
making meaning from scraps.

And someone gave us a heart
to put all the daily impressions,
knowing that time is not a snapshot of the moment,

but rather a window through which
the four winds blow.
And memory, the shadow without substance

that the sun casts on the wall.

Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
February 2020