Memory / Remembering

Kadam Flowers

The word memory or remembering takes me to a beautiful song by Tagore where he presents the triumph of poetry / songs over time / mortality. The song reads like this :

 

Monsoon’s first Kadam* bloom        is your boon,

     I am to offer here my Shravan** tunes.

     Dim cloud’s cool shade is their shield,   

       The first golden harvest of my melody field.

     You present today         you may not, in the morrow—

  For your bereft boughs will be steeped in sorrow.

  To honor you, the songs of mine

Will keep sailing back each Shravan

Riding the tides of the deluge

Of your stream of oblivion.

 

(*Kadam generally blooms during the monsoon.

**Shravan is the second month of the rainy season.

The song is composed in Bengali. The translation is mine and I feel this English version lacks matching tone, diction and rhythm of the original song.) 

The poet triumphantly says Kadam flowers in his verse will live on in an alternate reality when there’s no bloom left after the monsoon.

So memories can give life to things that no longer exists. 

Adlestrop by Edward Thomas captures an unexpected serene moment of a peaceful era only a short time before the outbreak of the First World War. And the harsh reality is that he was killed in the War even before the poem was published. The poem itself remains as a memory as it were of a poet and an idyllic scene.

                                    💚💚💚💚💚

You are asked to write a memory poem today. It can be your own experiences or someone else’s. Memories related to places, people, time, events and to anything you feel connected to are welcome.

 

A Haiku from Matsuo Basho for your inspiration :

 

A weathered skeleton

in windy fields of memory

piercing like a knife

 

Please link one poem that is your response to the material of this prompt. When you link your poem please visit other links in the spirit of the community.