For Remembrance

Gently cup Ophelia's flower
In your hand.
"Here's Rosemary,
That's for Remembrance.
Pray love, remember."
Did you listen after she was gone?
Feel the dry petals
Under your fingertips-
Flowers once lavished with
Loving care
Lie forgotten,
Scattered and withered
In fields of delusioned green.
You cling to distant memories of her,
But frustrated, your hand lies slack,
Unable to remember the color of her eyes...
Your body convulses with the pain of loss,
Of forgetting...
Floating along Time's shores
In a boat of glass,
Images fluttering by
From all angles-
Probing the depths of the past,
Yet unable to reach through...
Peering ahead to glimpse
Beyond future's mist...
Clarity is fleeting...
Disturbing...
And oh so real...
You gasp at the truth
But can not look away...
She leads and you follow,
Helplessly watching her body
Skim the water's surface,
Draped in flowers of Youth,
Flowers of Hope,
Flowers of Love...
Encumbered by silken yards of
Destruction,
Loneliness,
Loss and
Desolution...
You turn away, weeping bitterly,
Pain coursing through your veins
And tearing your heart asunder...
She will force you to remember...
That which you lost,
That which was never meant to be...
Remember her lesson.
Resist the encumbrance,
Resist the pull of past and of future
And float on,
Content in the present journey...
Notice all...
Learn all...
But never let it capture you
And destroy you...
Only you can free your soul.
Think of Ophelia,
Cherish her flowers...
Smile at little Ophelia dancing...
Discover her love and laughter
In the rain
And run to happiness...
Always remember her...
Unleash the power inside,
And then, in Tomorrow's Sunrise,
Try to Remember me.

Danielle Baker
-7/27/93