memory runs out
when my memory runs out
do I get to be a new person again?
twenty minutes a day
isn’t enough to make your masterpiece…
I felt alive again for four days —
walking the capital at night has
a fairly dreamlike quality to it
there’s a mid-spring haze
that casts a spirit of reverence
over our dead presidents,
the twilight steps to Abe’s
gargantuan feet,
the military statues in their
rain gear and fatigues
the monument is a well lit
beacon, even if only a prop
for the tourists’ clever selfies
the shadows and the puddles,
the walk to a mostly hidden
white house,
the museum tours
and the countless strides
up and down these gentle hills
you see, fatigue feels better
when you’re out doing
something you want to do
or around people you want
to be with…
tiredness is tolerable
when toil comes
from an enterprise you feel
connected to in your heart…
you can beat your own ass
for something you love
but anything else under the sun
will feel like life is beating you…
so when these memories run out
start me up again somewhere cool,
someplace I can smile about
and think thoughts that settle in nicely
