Memories Slip

"Do you remember me?"
A search, a rapid running
Through memory
Starts, quickens, lashes inside
And then
Stops.

"I-I don’t"
Sinking in remorse
The mind has failed
Left a soul to quiver
Alone.

It’s not your fault
Mind's memory
Has been measured, contained,
Bound By a number, a fact
But the heart—
It remembers
'Till it stops.

"Do you remember me?"
A heartbeat responds
Faintly.

Gardener

On steady glances walk,
People gawk at purples, yellows,
Maybe note a name, mellow.
Pick a flower or two.
Never thinking who.

The gardener, stained green,
Serene on ground in corner,
Sewing and digging, always harder.
Out of sight,
But amidst earth’s plight.

He turns over the muck,
Luck worked him to born.
Sprouting daisies, thorns,
So beauty could still live,
To the people he gives.