Inspired by Billy Collins' poem of the same name

 

The faces of the ones 

once loved are the first 

to go, blurring with new

faces, or perhaps, new loves

blotted on the timeline

to keep it going, a heartbreaking 

conclusion of a wonderful 

experience that you 

have forgotten to remember.

One by one, the memories

slip into the past, including

the ones that made you smile

until your face hurt and filled 

your belly with butteflies, now gone

and lost in the emptiness

where the songs you shared

are faint melodies in the background,

tinted now with a sadness

you can no longer explain.

Long ago you kissed the lips

of forgiveness and moved on

without its kissing you back,

lost in the forgetting that often

accompanies mercy, packing

your bags to see you go.

And even now, as voids 

are filled with trifling trinkets 

and slight pleasantries, you 

are struggling to remember

the tune you sometimes whistle

without knowing, and the lover

who sang it to you in his car.