"Memory Never Dies" A Poem by V.G. Grace

Memory Never Dies

Their past

is still present--

the lives

of those I loved,

pieces

scattered throughout my recollection.

Our sum parts

screened 

like a film,

an ongoing loop

in my head.

I can click the rewind button

like on an old VHS player,

anytime,

anywhere,

I want.

Death is a funny thing--

curious.

It never really ends things.

Just makes a retreat

into the corners,

waiting to leap out the shadows

and make its return.

The smell of that

moment,

embedded 

in my nostrils.

It's the reason why I learned

to hate hospitals.

I don't like the fluorescent

or the squeak-squeak

of the nurses' shoes,

or the soft lies 

spilling out of people's mouths,

tumbling from their lips,

in the moment 

when I needed the truth

of where eternity

would take 

me.