Memoirs Of A Time Traveler

In the solitude of the night,

I sit alone, and yet not so.

No human being is in sight

And yet, an atmosphere I know.

I am surrounded by a stream

Of images, I can’t quite place.

Is this reality or a dream?

I look for a familiar face.

I know what is surrounding me

Is a reflection of my soul.

The images aren’t clear to me.

My memories do play a role.

I see the places where I’ve been.

I see myself and recognise

A recent or an ancient scene.

The past parades before my eyes.

It isn’t just the things I see,

Old feeling sweeping me away.

I conquer time. It seems to me

The years melt. This was yesterday.

I am a frightened six-year-old.

My sister whom I had adored.

Had vanished. I was never told

Where she had gone. I was ignored.

My father and my brother too

Were missing nowhere to be seen.

There was a train. We travelled to

A land where I had never been.

My mother whom I hardly knew,

Was there to hold my sweaty hand.

And soldiers were travelling too.

A scene I could not understand.

We travelled to Australia,

A language, which I couldn’t speak.

A frightened little foreigner,

No comfort there for me to seek.

I feel the rocks they threw at me.

The insults were quite meaningless.

I was an alien entity.

Lost in the foreign wilderness.

It is still there and very strong.

I’m still a stranger who is trapped

In flesh, where I do not belong.

I had no talent to adapt.

I am a leaf cast from a tree.

I am the victim of the wind.

The forest is not part of me.

Perhaps I’m cast out. Have I sinned?

I well recall my teenage years.

I was not picked for any team.

And there were girls, but all my fears

Made me afraid to chase that dream.

I listened to my classmates’ boasts.

I hoped in time my luck would change.

I see them all like living ghosts.

They thought that I was somewhat strange.

The first girl whom I idolised,

(We had a very brief affair.)

She kissed me. I was so surprised,

Blue eyes and shiny jet-black hair.

She died but she was never mine.

I close my eyes and she is there.

That kiss was like the taste of wine.

I still can see her everywhere.

There have others I adored,

But everything came to an end.

There have been times my spirit soared.

I loved and our souls would blend.

I see them and relive the times

When I knew real happiness.

Inside my heart, a bell still chimes.

I won’t surrender to distress.

For me, the past is still alive.

I live and breathe each bygone day.

Perhaps the moment will arrive

When memories will fade away.

For now, I feel both joy and pain.

My life is steeped in fantasy.

If I should live my life again,

That is the way that it would be.