Not that I remember, but that I am
Memory, am all that has befallen
Unbroken being and knowing
Whose flow has brought me here, laden with the forgotten
Time and places, once here and now
Of those where were, from day to day
From life to life as I,
Presences of that omnipresence without end or beginning
Omniscient through our being,
That brings and takes away the unremembered living
Moments of joy and wisdom, the once-familiar
Rooms and temples and fountains, the long ago gardens
Of a thousand summers, music once heard,
Travelling through me and on, like a wave
Of sound, a gleam
Irrecapturable. And who we are
Who gather each one leaf, one life of the myriadfold tree
Of the lost domain, and mourn
The flowing away of all we never were, or knew?
Promises, messages reach us, instruct us,
The untold, untellable, undying
Heart’s desire, resonance
Of elsewhere, once, some day, forever
Kathleen Raine
August, Remains of the Day, oil on canvas, 18x24in, 2011
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