Remembering, Encumbering

Some memories seem to cruelly nuzzle

As sharp pieces in a jigsaw puzzle

And fit too exactly around my mind

And give and take but stay in kind

.

One is stowed tighter, more than the others

Constrains release, imprisons, and smothers

And fails to relinquish and fast, constrains

What flails, then what fails, to address the pain

.

Though fixed in place, it is an open door

Forcing me to remember evermore

No regret can keep me from stumbling in

Falling through it, face-down, egg-stained again

.

You will remember, she cursed divinely

I know your pain; your thirst chokes unkindly

Locked in, damnation for how you've hurt me

Acquittal begs: Forget me overtly

.

What was I thinking? I chided my soul

Spending her innocence to charge a toll

One memory clots my lifetime of thought

A trail of browsed toys, broken and bought

.

Contrition for my past fails my present

Unspoken regrets bare the appellant

I plea, hat-in-hand, and hope for the best

That you forgive and forget—like the rest