Forgotten Days - A Meditation on Melancholy

It no longer seems useful to me— Getting caught up in memory;

Forgotten Days:

It no longer seems useful to me—
Getting caught up in memory;

To latch on to clouds of dreams,
To only exist when sleeping.

It no longer seems fulfilling to me—
Spending hours in your company;

To reminisce of your laughter and your face,
To be buried in this misty haze of forgotten days.

It no longer seems meaningful to me—
Scouting for your ashes in ripples on the sea;

To live halfly when awake,
To fall apart completely when asleep.

It no longer seems like living to me—
Passing these final moments in a fantasy;

To kiss the mouth of a forgotten face,
To have the wind carry it away.

About the poem and cover art

It rarely occurs to me that after having written a poem, I manage to find a painting that perfectly encapsulates the feeling I was trying to convey.

This was one of those times, for this painting by Constance Marie seems to express everything I wanted to say with my poem.

A picture can sometimes say more than a thousand words and this painting absolutely does that. I hope my poem can add a couple more to the painting’s depiction of melancholy —something we all experience yet none of us fully understands.

Creating art often occurs to us when we feel sad without knowing why —indulging in this feeling can give great meaning to life. In the end one continues being sad not knowing why and hoping, praying to never find out.

Great art has always been more interested in the question than the answer —and so it shall always be.

I thank you all for reading.

Cover art: Melancholy by Constance Marie, 1801