Memories

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this poem was due to the inspiration of the following sentence from a book I was reading.

"what else is there, as we skip through the years like stones"

I immediately put the book down and started writing.

Daydreams and memories
Like skimming stones across a creek
Sometimes seeming
 to skip on endlessly
Before finally going under
Just touching on moment after moment 
of your existence
Before sinking into a particular memory

Other times just a few jumps
dipping into flashbacks
Here and there
Before disappearing underwater

Then there's the miss-throw
Plunging straight in
to a vivid moment of your life
That has touched you deeply

And....
like the stone
You sink...

The inevitable result
Every time
There is no other ending
You always end up in the water

Reliving a part of your day
Or a moment long past

Joyful memories
Hurtful memories

It makes no difference

You will always sink

It is the nature of the stone

It seems uncontrollable
Totally a wild beast
Random and unpredictable
But it doesn't have to be the end of the story

You can change it
Take control of the skipping
Choose the smoothest rock
learn to choose WHICH memories to drown in

Skip past the nightmares
Sink into the happy ones
learn how to hold your breath underwater
Find yourself a scuba diving set

For me, it's reading a good book and writing poetry
 that supplies me with oxygen
Use when needed

And
 you push on

Reaching for a time that made you happy
Or turned your heart into a pool of molten wax
A time that made you laugh
 till tears ran down your cheeks

Had you flying through the air
Free as a bird
Or dancing on the clouds
crying from overwhelming gratitude

Everyone has some moment in their life
That they felt good about

As small as a smile from a stranger
At a time when you needed someone to notice you
Or as momentous as holding your first baby in your arms

Each time you
succeed in reaching the happy points
You become stronger
Happier within yourself

And you begin to create more heartfelt moments to remember
So you fall less and less into the bad daydreams

 You just have to learn to breathe underwater
Strengthen your lungs
Exercise your throwing muscles
And become a brilliant stone skipper

Until

One day

You will skip right over to the other bank.

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