Paradox of Memory and Experience

They say
Goldfish can only remember 
For three seconds at a time.
Reliving everything over again.
Can’t help thinking we are all goldfish
And life is tucked away tightly in nonsense
Filled seconds; three ticks at a time.
One potato
Two potato
Three potato
But no more; never four

I spend
Too much time dreaming about 
My precious three seconds.
They say an elephant never forgets.
What a curse! A horrible cross to bear.
Given the chance, I would forget
All the things that do not matter.
In the end
I’d sooner remember the forgotten dreams
That once filled
My precious three seconds

Such dreams:
Mysterious sound of snakes sliding
Across rock;
Rhythmic chirping. A grasshopper.
Smelling summer’s floral symphonies
playing on the wind.
The distant chiming of bells
Calling me to church;
to comforts lost.
Three seconds.

I have followed the sound 
of honeysuckle flutes and violet violins.
Far along a mountain path.
Along a grassy route yet unshaped by human strides.
In such dreams are my deepest hopes.
In such memories am I.
Deep in the dense, mountain-side thicket 
Among the sun-baked leaves
My voice sings through a person-less world.
It is crying: “Here I am, here I am, here am I!”

Just when I begin to feel alone and afraid,
Echoes call back to me
Through the hills from which comes my strength.
And for three dreamy seconds 
I’m no longer afraid
That life is passing me by.
For three dreamy seconds 
I am alive.