In the Other Country

It was in the other country
where darkness came easily
and only the dogs howled at night.

To walk on the grass then
was only a walk when the moon shone
and the passersby were like ghosts.

But ghosts not of the here, of this far country,
but of the other country from whence one came,
and that was long ago.

Useless to ask when
for in the dark there was no time
and the years were like moments spent with a lover.

Past then was a tense,.
a tense learned in a foreign tongue,
in a foreign country.

Useless the time there spent as a student.
Useless the memories.
All will not be spent in that memory.

Memory!  Let us forget, you said.
And I spent the time
listening to Schnittke.

Closing my eyes
not dreaming
not remembering
simply closing my eyes.

"From the table of my memory
I'll wipe away ...."
No, not Hamlet!  Please!
It is Schnittke again.