I start everyday fresh and new
Memories of days past are history

Ask me what I ate a few days ago
Or details of a book I read last week

Ask me to make meatloaf without a recipe
Ask me when my next dentist appointment is

To me, it’s all a mystery
My memory is like a sieve

No, it’s not old age or menopause
My poor memory goes to back to when I was young

Memorizing dates in history class, a torture
Remembering my students’’ name, an adventure

Once I had two students
Whose names I mixed up
And after that no matter how hard I tried
I could not reprogram my brain
The wrong names stayed in my head

My husband and kids are with a
Good memory blessed
Which makes me look worse
As you’ can guess

My poor memory has other downsides too
Forgetting how to get somewhere
Getting lost on the way back …
Misplacing an important document
Now, where did I actually file that?

But poor memory has an upside too
I get to start each day anew
Forget the sorrows of the past
Leave behind me what has passed

Yes, my poor memory gets me in trouble sometimes
But each day is brand new, a fresh start!

Lida Berghuis
January 8th, 2011