Memory

As years advance the memory falters.
The familiar names of old friends
And lanes which were a part of me
Struggle at the tip of my tongue

Like dates of wars, the laws of physics,
The names of all the constellations,
And algebra and trigonometry
Which are all irrevocably lost.

On the shores of my mind these names
Alternately vanish and reappear.
The light of the abandoned lighthouse
Wavers in the slowly gathering mist.

Diptesh Ghosh