Days like today

Will you remember today? The way you stirred the cream in your coffee and it made swirls inside the mug like a slow motion whirlwind? Or the way the sun’s rays streamed through dry brown leaves and made it glisten against the light? Will you remember the way your grandfather hugged you as you left for school? Or how the books in the library smelt on that June afternoon? Will you remember today?

Will you remember the salty blue water from your first holiday? Or the way your hair swept your face as you cycled the hilly streets of Tura?  Will you remember how you warmed your hands as a hawker fried groundnuts under a thick red flame? Or the way you watched clouds float across pale blue skies? Will you remember today?

Fleeting images. Like the red letter box that you crossed as you pedalled out towards the main road. Or seeing a familiar face in a sea of people at a Christmas carnival. Will you remember how your mother called out your name stressing each syllable like it means something? Or how it felt to open that brown envelope with a letter from a childhood friend? Will you remember today?

Will you remember how he smelt of wet grass and soil from the recent flowers he’d planted? Or the summer afternoon he kissed you in the dusty history aisle? Will you remember how you both swirled on that ferris wheel screaming until you were hoarse? Or how his voice sounded on the other end of the phone voice after your first big fight? Will you remember today?

Will you remember how the bird outside your window cooed as you buried your head under that thick old quilt? Or how you shrieked when you felt a frog inside your unused gumboots? Will you remember how you cried yourself to sleep when the boy you liked so much didn’t like you back? Or the way the church bells broke the silence between your father and you?

Will you remember how you picked up pine cones from that slope of shaded trees beside the green algae pond? Or how the snippy air pinched your cheeks pink? Will you remember the way rain pattered on your tin roof and drowned out your parents’ fight? Or how fireflies lit up the forest on a moonless night? 

Will you remember today?