Where The Heart Remembers

The same playground, the same river,

the same tree, the same city.

The surroundings remain—

the people change.

The swing still moves,

creaking under the old weight.

Leaves rustle,

shifting with the weight of memories.

One fading, one stepping away.

We ran down the paths,

shoes hitting the ground with steady thuds.

Now, as I walk past the swing,

a single figure among the trees,

the wind blows—strong but inconsistent.

Do you remember? Running round, laughter carefree?

What happened to us—our childhood, our friendship?

The bench still tilts to one side,

our initials forever carved—

on the tree, in my mind.

Maybe in yours too?

You left when things grew hard.

Was it by force, or by choice?

Yet here I am—

steady, strong, unchanging.

One fading, one stepping away.

She sits there,

eyes vacant, chair swaying,

always staring into empty space.

I walk to her—she calls me Amy,

a name that was never mine.

Oh, how I wish

things could go back to how they were.

She used to hold my hand,

walk with me everywhere,

watch over me while my parents worked.

Her smile—her bright eyes—

those are gone now,

taken away by the devil itself:

Alzheimer’s.

Her mind forgot, her heart remembered.

She forgot the names of flowers

but still traced them with her hands.

The lullaby that should’ve disappeared

still drifts from her lips each night.

But still, the names are forgotten—

Alzheimer’s, what a wicked thing.

She forgets me by accident, you by choice.

Yet both haunt me just the same.

I stare into her vacant eyes,

then at the empty space where you used to be,

wondering how the two people I held dearest

forgot me—slowly but surely.

How I wish I could turn back time,

change the moments leading up to this.

But alas, that is but a dream—

something unreal, unreachable.

My heart remains unchanged—

never budging, never moving.

I walk by the playground,

the places we used to love.

I stop by her place every day,

hoping, praying, for some miracle.

But what’s done is done.

One fading, one stepping away.

Where the heart remembers,

the heart never forgets.