Memory can be a trickster
The part of the mind that is devious
The prankster, the liar, the cheat
The rascal that is often mischievous.
Memory can enlarge and diminish,
Or capriciously decide to desert you.
It can make a disappointment of truth
Or make an dreadful lie seem true.

Houses you used to know very well
Suddenly have shrunk so small.
Pathways you thought you knew
No longer go anywhere at all.
Music that once swelled the heart
Now seems like so much noise
Memory has sneaked in to the mind
And run off with some of the joys.

People you once depended on
Have faces or names you forgot.
Cherished books from yesterday
Must be reread to recover the plot.
Some favorite rhymes once quoted
To entertain and maybe just amuse
Are no longer stashed in the memory
Right there for you to pick up and use.

Games and hobbies, old favorites
No longer carry that much charm.
Along with other forgotten things
They seem to have come to some harm.
That’s not to say this is everything
And nothing remains sweet and true.
I know for the rest of my life
I will always remember you.