MNEMOSYNE

A river, a dam,

An English dam they said.

Welsh water for the English,

But I was from a far distant land.

Above all a woman,

A girl and a woman,

from the town nearby,

Tom’s daughter.

She tried to teach me

where my soul belonged,

what it is to be me.

to love and be loved. Not easy.

We joined, stayed,

for long years,

Traveled much

as people of my land do.

Many lands, oceans separate.

Many differences.

Always, always, She came with me.

But we were different

Logic and emotion

Are not

everlasting companions.

In the years since

they have found a name for those

whose logic

demands compliance.

She left.

I have traveled alone

Many new lands,

But finally I came back

To the river, the dam, the little town.

I rang her own,

That unpronounceable name

They talked to her,

and to me, said no.

I came again

More years later

The dam, the river, all much smaller.

The house, the hotel,

She was gone.

Cardiff maybe?

But nobody knew.

I searched in vain

for that unpronounceable name.

And all I have now

is a memory.

Revised, February, 2005