If Only I Could Remember

If only I could remember and amnesia didn't fog up my greying pate. Last, I recall my childhood days. Was of neighbouring rambling red roses And a swarm of harlequin black ladybirds and admiral butterflies laying their eggs and old ladies on Sundays polishing doorsteps All I can recall are all the flavours Of the sunrise from winter to fall or from April to March with the end of the wilting daffodil and the waking of the busy honeybee the furore of the startled house sparrows flying from hedge to emerald-clipped hedge And the bubbling of the black tarmac roads and the weight of my father's heavy backhand for falling out of line or just being a child If only I could once again recollect. Being last in the bath wrapped in a wet towel The sound of laughter begins to howl. As I put on my underwear, no dignity allowed. If I reminisce, I can nearly remember being tightly tucked into old army blankets the smell of Benson & Hedges Gold Cigarettes as the tooth fairy silently left her infrequent kiss with a hint of fleeting bliss, if only I could remember; I'd tell you much more than even this. But amnesia has silenced even my poetic lips.