Remember Me Poem by SPC Kellaway

How will you remember me? How will you recall my life?

Think of me at 22; impossibly handsome and in full flow
Tearing at life as a bloodhound at a fresh new scent

Or recall my innocent teenage days, freckled and shy
Unsure of my place in the world but so, so eager to find it

Maybe my youngest days; fair-haired and chubby face
Resting in my mothers arms of love and protection

Then perhaps my paternal self; proud and always worried
Unsure if I could ever accept the challenge and succeed

How about the years when love was all I could be
We were two separate people but we walked as one

Those were the times when I and every atom was alive
Remember me as I was then and not as I am now

Now gaunt and frail and in my final hours, a living frame
Stripped of the life force and all I achieved in life

There is no dignity in death, as others wipe your tears
There is no stirring speech or witty final words

The leaking mouth, the rasping breath do not reflect my years
So rejoice in what I was and forget this empty skin

Go back in time and picture me at my glorious best
And you will see the real me, the one to remember