THE PARTY

“Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.” – Albert Schweitzer

Memories define who we are, can influence our actions, may shape the rest of lives. We often cling to sweet memories so that the bitterness of the present is tempered like coffee, sweetened with sugar. Painful memories are dulled by time so that their acrid essence is distilled into something more refined than the raw gut-wrenching agony we felt when we experienced the reality that birthed them. Some memories live on vivid and fresh, either to delight or torture. Strong emotional reactions engender long-lived memories. Here is a poem written about persistent memories.

The Party

I’ll throw a party and invite
Old wounds, my recent pain;
I’ll sing and laugh all night,
Forgive, forget, and feign
That all’s well, all’s bright.

My party’s doors are open wide
So that my memories may come,
To tell me that enough I’ve cried.
Past loves, that heart will numb,
File in, remembrances to chide.

The music sounds strong and loud,
Old bitternesses will dance and sway.
My soul will fly above the cloud,
Colours will cover all my gray,
Bright cloth replaces my shroud.

I’ll drink and sweet will be the wine,
My anguished mind will succumb
To blessed forgetfulness divine.
Cool logic will be struck dumb
And broken heart no longer pine.

Bright lights to burn until the morn,
Feet never to leave the dance floor.
But in my side there’ll be pain, a thorn:
Your absence, still an open sore;
And in my party I alone will mourn.