THE SONG WE SANG

 

Do you remember the song we sang,

Many moons ago?

It was a sweet song, a young song, a song

Gifted by the galaxies and stars

And suns.

A song we both knew, a song we kept with us,

A song that was carved into the universe,

And our hearts.

It was a sweet melody

That waited for me at every turn,

It nestled itself in my dreams,

Its lyrics would imprint images into my eyes

When I shut them.

I could not imagine a song more true.

Well, I think I’ve forgotten it.

I think I’ve forgotten its melody, the way

The words move, the places it slowed,

The places you used to laugh when you sang them.

Which part was mine, and which part was yours.

I’ve lost it all.

No matter how hard I search, how desperately

I claw at my memories for a secret to how it sounded -

I’m met with silence.

Faint glimmers, vague whispers, at best,

But the glitter I remember being so blinding

Has disappeared.

I wonder if you remember it still, after all this time.

If it’s just me who has forgotten

If I’ve taken our songs sweetness for granted,

And the universe had taken it away from me

As punishment.

Sometimes, I wonder if it’ll be a good idea

To ask you,

Or to plead for you

To remind me of its sound

- but I know that it would be helpless,

And ingenuine of me to sing its words now.

And sometimes,

And I can’t tell this is worse than even forgetting the song in the first place -

I wonder if the song ever existed in the first place.

Of course it did, I tell myself.

The memories of me belting its words come back,

But still,

I cannot seem to recall what those words were.

This search is painful.

Maybe I’m a coward, for not trying harder,

Maybe I’m weak, but

I’m not sure if I really want to search so hard.

Maybe there’s a reason for me forgetting.

There has to be.

So, even though I miss our tune -

How can I not? -

I’ll let it go.

Maybe I’ll find another tune,

My tune, somewhere else,

Maybe you’ll find yours.

(Emma Dimitrova, 14-years old, 22/04/2023)