how hard do your memories fade away

for a moment his face in your hands, and then a bitter goodbye

her hands pulling you away as you screamed endlessly into the darkened night

"it was vile, by the looks of things"

and that was all they had to say to you

a course traveled only once, can it be recalled? you struggle against the echoes of a time long past as your vision wavers

"don't you remember being here?"

he, who was he? familiar, like the place you stood in together

but that was all

a lovely dream came to you one night, and it whispered tender nothings in your ear

you awoke crying, unable to remember a goddamn thing

is this what it was like now? faces faded into warped monsters, distortions

"Who the hell are you?"

and you knew you were looking at a mirror

but who are they?

world around you was spinning and spinning, spiraling far out of anyone's control

could hardly recall how to eat now, and whatever was before surely wasn't the same as it was a second ago, was it?

sat down somewhere, pain and weariness of the past few days made you wish that you were buried beneath the pond in front of you

and then quietly, it began to rain

a little frog swam gaily across the pond's reflective surface, and you realized just how green he was

and from there, colors began to return

you could make out a dragonfly resting on a leaf, its little crystal wings balancing delicately on a blue pen.

for the moment, things became clearer again, as if there was no more fog or hazy days.

"Oh my god, there you are!"

You turned to see his face, no longer a twisted figure of what you could recall, and you smiled at him.

"We've been looking for you for hours, I thought something happened to you. I'm, I'm really glad you're okay."

You got up off the bench and hugged him as tightly as you could.

"Me too... me too..."

(July 2021)