Thr Sum of What We Recall - Dec 19 2022

 

The Sum of What We Recall

Dec 19 2022

I distrust

my earliest memory.

A fleeting impression

of a toddler playing alone

behind a wooden fence

looking out at the street.

But what I see is myself, not the view.

As if I already had acquired

the skill of distance,

imagining how I was seen

my place in the world.

A detachment

that's with me still;

the dispassionate watcher,

disembodied

at will.

But how much do we truly remember?

And how much

re-invent or forget,

confabulate

appropriate

synthesize?

When all we are is the sum

of what we recall,

how can we truly know ourselves

when memory

is so unreliable?

At least this uncertainty is humbling.

Because when nothing is known for sure

we must temper our convictions

and listen to different retellings.

And if we can't even be sure of ourselves

then anyone

becomes possible.