For T by Sheila Ash

Red eyes of salt water memories
swim in the blue Caribbean Sea
over bottomless coastal shelves
a thousand fish stream by
like days long gone.

Did you remember to the end
the shouts of joyous jumping into cavernous cenotes
filled with the tears generations?
Or did fog again obscure the peaks
around the volcanic beaches of Ometepe
leaving only the eyes of languid cattle
to watch us without understanding?

Did you remember to the end
the resonance of the hillside church bells,
the mariachi street bands singing as we ate dinner
the whispers from sultry jungle nights ?
Or did the tangles muddle
the sounds of Star Wars in Spanish
our breathless running the gauntlet of raging mosquitos back to our tents?

Did you remember to the end
The magic of marketplaces, rhythmic swathes of kaleidoscopic colours
dancing like a salsa winding its way through the streets of Merida?.
Our merriment at Colunga’s surreal seats,
the laughter of Guatemalan washer women as we staged a photoshoot
Our childish games among the Mayan columns
the white hot sand of Caya Caulker grinding beneath our feet?

Did you remember to the end
or did the decay of neurons rob me from you?
Your arm around my shoulder once mended my shocked soul,
Mine unable to mend your mind in return.
Your smile once brightened my mornings
as every sun rose so now it sets
for I remember your joy, my friend,
and it will shine within me always.

© Sheila Ash 15^th August 2017