I remember #10,121

I remember this and that, I remember how it was.
I remember yesterday for a moment, just because.

I remember holding on, I remember letting go.
I remember all the little things I thought I had to know.

I remember years ago, the days before all this.
I remember sunset when nothing was amiss

I remember people but now I’m told they’re gone
to numbers in a graveyard, accounted one by one.

I remember never knowing names, just lines upon a graph
that mentioned death in passing - a soulless epitaph.

© BH, 2021

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An artist friend shared a prompt up for contributions to Scotland’s Covid Memorial (with Alec Finlay and Lucy Richards - more here - http://www.i-remember.uk/).

Contributions were to be in the form of ‘I remember…’ statements.

I wrote one down and then, ten lines later, this appeared. I shared it with Alec Finlay and some lines may or may not appear in the finished memorial - the ten, probably in the archive.

Still, I felt the poem worth putting out now in its entirety, no matter what fragments may or may not appear.

The title is the number of confirmed Covid deaths in Scotland on the 23rd June 2021 - source ONS.

It’s worthy project - this memorial - or even, just remembering.