forget-me-not

do you still remember
my footsteps on the pebbles
my silhouette between the trees
my laughter on the swing below your window?

whatever you do now
however far apart our trails
the only thing I'd ever ask from you again
is to not forget

do you remember
the rituals
the eloquent dances of metaphors
the chess of meanings
the echoes of the long lost words?
do they still ricochet in the deepest
dungeons of your memory?

care not for my whereabouts
as the years drift away
as the threads wear thinner and wither
feel free to not bother about my fate

like strangers meandering
never coming across again
so we will be
so it will be
so it is fine
as long as you can recall

can you recall
the way I spoke to you
uttering anything
to conceal the swirls in my chest?
the way I waved at you
a shadow on a dusky road
a not-so-accidental passer-by
a singing ghost of tacit yearning?

do you still remember
remember anything?
are your memories
like the shimmering pieces of broken glass
in the cracks of the old road we walked
or a faded mosaic
of words and moves and looks and the unspoken?


do you still remember?
for it is the only thing I'd ever ask from you again


Sid Saturnicki, 25072021