Some say we should live
In the present.
But what about memory
That make up our thoughts
From remote corners
Of the mind?
And from that deep ocean
Arise whales
Sharks and leaping dolphins,
Octopus changing colours.
Like the producers of theatre
We conjure
Costumes, protagonists, themes
In vivid detail
In fabulous dreams.
Thoughts sprout from nowhere
From the distant past suddenly
Transfix one neuron
Into focus on
A personage long gone
As if he were here,
Juxtapose a face to a name forgotten.
Songs follow one another
Before one closes
We can hear the echoes
Of the next one.
We thrive on the past
The structure and foundation
On which the present stands.
We remember
We recall
The deeply imprinted marks
Of our footprints in fossil
Fingerprints in amber
DNA in genes
Without them the present
Would be as meaningless
As a seizure
Of Alzheimer’s.
The past is indeed
The present
The present is the past
We cannot live in a present
Never without the past.
Let no one say
The present is all
For we are what is memory
We are what are thoughts
We are what is the past
The present is thus recast.
thank you Indrajit, I find much meaning, beauty and truth in this poem,
I first came across your poetry in Muscat – remember? and I have to say
that it is your poems, past and present, that most resonate within me.
I am entering my seventies. losing more loved ones . some entering their
own foggy worlds of memory. We are all too ready to apply labels like
dementia or Alzheimer but within our souls these are meaningless, for
past present and future are one. I\m finally starting to get that!
What is the source of the picture that accompanies the poem?
Good, visual to balance the words. I’m researching the dreams
of the elderly – there\s some good research by Kelly Bulkley on
the spiritual significance of dreams, drawing on the work of Jung.
Dreams are symbols of the unconscious and that picture ‘feels’
like a dream image, mysterious, faded, hinting at truth and soaked in
‘mona lisa; mystery and beauty.
I’m trying to put words to the wordless. A poet does that well.
I celebrate your poem that celebrates memory.- more of the heart than the head.
Our Omani friends are celebrating Eid, and the nomination of Sultan Qaboos
for the Nobel Peace Prize, so Eid Mubarak is appropriate , I think
Kindest regards and Eid mubarak
Maria R
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Maria
So wonderful to have a visitor from the past from dear Muscat – that is what i meant that the past can be memorable and precious – i too am now into my seventies and more people are on the other shore that i knew than here – thankyou and good wishes
Indrajit Rathore
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Very nice.
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lovely lines.. so beautifully penned 🙂 Do visit Drishti to read some of my Haiku, sir. Would love to have you over 🙂
Cheers, Archana – http://www.drishti.co
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