"The Gift of Memory"

"How we remember, and what we remember, and why we remember
form the most personal map of our individuality"
says Christina Baldwin,
and i, too, think that it's true...

For oft times, we recall a familiar face in the past,
a catchy line; a joke shared; a lovely place;
a sad, sad song; a lonely road; a tragic moment;
and know not how we remember them - but we did...

And what we remember seems to be related
to what we had felt so strongly then:
nostalgic moments, memorable holidays,
a meeting or a parting with people whom we love...

There must be a very, very strong reason -
for the heart and the mind to remember...
to want to put in memory, permanently -
to be able to recall many, many years later...

It must surely have been a special something -
that is really worth cherishing and treasuring...
it must have been like life itself to the one remembering -
something that forgetting is akin to letting the old heart die...

It is personally ours - as a breathing, thinking individual -
and no one could rob us of that precious memory, ever...