Recollection

                                     Brenda Bryant

MY WORLD


RECOLLECTION

I vaguely remember the beginning when you and I first met.

I was lying there, sizzling, and, suddenly, I was wet!

We'd been through all the turmoil, the prehistoric weather,

And now the time had come for things to get themselves together.

Remember the lightning flashing, remember the lava flowing,

Remember the thunder rumbling, remember the mountains growing?

Oh that was such a wild time! We were battered, boiled and hurled,

We were melted, fused and fabricated into a youthful world!

I remember rolling and pitching into a quiet spot,

Still steaming, creaking, splitting and not knowing what was what.

I lay there, gently hardening, and cooling, after the crash

And, suddenly, you joined me with that so-surprising splash!

At first your heat was unbearable, I yearned to roll away,

But then you began to settle-down and become what you are today.

I started to welcome your foaming, and how you smoothed my sides,

And, later, I welcomed the little crabs you left here with your tides.

Since then you've visited every day, year in year out, unceasing,

You've roared around then said goodbye, as years have been increasing.

A thousand million billion times with a surge that never ends.

I really think that you and I could call each other 'friends'.

*

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IT'S A PUZZLEMENT!

When I was young I'd lie in bed

With questions circling in my head.

The answers, I felt very sure,

Were 'somewhere' so I felt secure.

I knew that when I was full-grown

The answer to 'everything' would be known.

Were little green men out in Space?

Or were we the only 'human' race?

Did Space go on for ever more?

Whatever were the planets for?

Questions like these went round and round

And, though no answers, then, were found,

I didn't worry  for I planned

To be an adult and understand.

Grown-ups knew what was false and true,

And I would be all-knowing too.

Like jigsaw pieces wildly scattered

Lay all the answers that really mattered,

And, when I grew, I knew that I

Would find the 'trees', the 'rooves' ,the 'sky'

And there would be a perfect scene

Where only questioning had been.

How wrong I was! The years have flown

And older and older I have grown,

And still the bits make little sense,

No more than they did in my innocence.

I'll close the box, put on the lid,

Knowing less than I ever did.

*