Souvenir Pois de Senteur
XC.
What is a souvenir? A simple definition is:
“A thing that is kept as a reminder of a person, place, or event.”
Whether souvenirs are actual 'things' or mere heartfelt mementos of romantic scenarios and encounters or of travels to exotic and haunting places, or even of brief memorable moments when we had accomplished things or been honored somehow, they become treasures of our hearts, and may be found among our keepsake treasure troves, even among our poetry.
Some souvenirs may be limp old report cards or autograph books from grade school, college yearbooks or faded valentines from long ago. Yellowing letters tied with ribbons, pressed flowers from a prom corsage, the program from a first-ever symphony performance: - precious reminders, whether in our mind’s eye or with actual evidence. Less tangible, a scent we loved when we were dating someone, or "our song" can qualify. The list is limitless.
I come from a long line of souvenir-savers. So remembering mine has stirred warm feelings. I think I'll indulge those. You're welcome to join me.
Were it not for memory
Morning's glory
Would be less dear.
The whiff of ecstasy
It brings on silken wings
Would be less real.
Its wistful history
Of those other springs,
Like drops of molten gold
I can view from here
Are the more precious
When kept near
In poignant memory
Among my souvenirs.
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
Demis Roussos "From Souvenirs To Souvenirs"
The Old House
The end of this approaches.
This place, once mine,
Never to be the same again,
Though it will ever be as fine
To shine in memory,
Where seasons come 'round annually
And visions flow eternally.
You accept change graciously
As horizon swallows sun
At close of days.
Now you let me go
Gently toward my tomorrows
Toward unknown paths and ways.
And so ~
I'll take a souvenir of you.
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
A cameo
Carved upon my memory
Of your own face
Is ever present, pleasant
Warm and golden,
Pale and cool,
Like you.
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
Riddling Into Destiny
People come
And people go
Where they went
We may not know.
But when a person
Still abides
He is the sunrise
And the tides.
His voice is thunder,
His tears are rain.
He leaves but once,
Returns again.
His absence rips
All partial gain.
From distant worlds
His shadow rises
In quiet moments
His fragrance clings.
His look chastises.
But n'er to n'er
Will he become.
His name is on
A graven stone.
When it is time
He'll be revealed
Till then a mist
O'er hill and field.
A splash of light,
A glimpse of ALL
He'll rip asunder
In spring or fall.
A gentle one
In vivid hue,
He is yourself,
He is YOU.
He wants no longer
To be estranged
From sense of wonder,
Cold or heat.
He meets his destiny
From out of time.
And falls in place
At heaven's feet.
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
The Web
Silken strands,
Filaments,
Interlaced loosely,
Sunburst-patterned,
Networking space
To partition void from void,
To connect place to place,
To capture nourishment.
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
You may never pass this way again,
Along the beaches of my soul.
But footprints on my soul remain
In traces underlying
The shifting sands of time.
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
Living every momentIs the true adventure,
Its own souvenir.
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
Feel the now
Upon your cheek,
Upon your brow.
Listen to it effortlessly,
Touch, taste, smell ~
The real of it,
Enter into it ~ be it.
You never need
To steal it.
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
I think radially,
Seldom on a linear plane.
Why select one grain of sand
From all the shores
To understand the sea?
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
