remember

I found you when the years were heavy,

in the fullness of our days.

Blue stone burned beneath the sun,

we offered not for riches,

not for thrones ~

only for the binding of our lives.

And for a long while,

it was enough.

The years went on ~

floods came, armies passed.

I hardly noticed the ruin,

your hand was always in mine.

Until the day you looked at me

without knowing ~

no history in your eyes,

only a blank kindness,

and weary sighs.

I called you by the names

you once whispered in the dark.

But you only looked away.

I remember for both of us,

I carry what you let go.

If you can’t recall our story,

I’ll be the one who knows.

That was the reign of forgetting ~

greater than war,

greater than flood.

The empire of forgetting.

I lost you,

while you sat beside me.

And I carried the whole of us alone.

Still, the tablets remembered.

I carried them through centuries.

I found you again

your face had changed, yet

I would have known you in any age.

I spoke our story like a prayer.

You only smiled politely,

as if it belonged to someone else.

I remember for both of us,

I carry what you let go.

If you can’t recall our story,

I’ll be the one who knows.

So I speak to you across the ages

one life, two lives, ten.

I will always remember.

And if the gods are merciful,

they’ll set us down again

in a gentler world,

where you will not forget,

and I will not remind you

who we are.