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It’s just over a year since I left the school
But most of the memories have dried up from the pool
How very untrue was it said
‘We won’t forget the school till we are dead’

But the memories must be somewhere
Either deep in the heart or in the surrounding air
And this, my brain fails to understand
And thinks he has forgotten that land

But my heart even today can hear
The school bell ringing in the ear
And in the lungs somewhere
Is stored some of the school’s air

Below the wounds that have healed
Some dust of that playground lies sealed
And the eyes have preserved the photographs
Of the teaching and non-teaching staff

If the presence of these things the brain cannot mark
I don’t think it is his fault
Because such things always rest
Not in brain but in the heart

(written ~ 1996-97)